He's what we would call neither good nor evil
by Ruler of the Fake Empire
Summary: They met by accident, neither of them looking for companionship. One of them hopelessly lost, the other sent for beer, but easily distracted. Armed with only a cat and a scowl Loki watched the snow, then a man too hopelessly jovial for his own good sat down next to him. A friendship founded from concern and a lack of notice. Maybe friendship, maybe a little more than that. Thorki
1. And you never return

The man reeked of magic.

A magic old and a magic dark and a magic feral. It was the type of magic that smelt like bad intentions and laughter. Even now as he watched the snow fall and he was without a blanket everything about him gave clear signal to his power. Yet, something kept him out in the cold. Something told him not to draw the power at his fingertips and conjure up himself a warm fire to bask in front of. Perhaps it was because he was tired. Maybe he was telling himself he needed to conserve his energy. Or maybe he just enjoyed the cold.

He was black haired and beautiful, and sharp looking and ever so slightly broken. He wore his long hair out and it framed his face in wavy, almost curling darkness. Green eyes looked out at the snow, intelligence sparking every now and then, gaining knowledge for things that the mortals would usually overlook. How they managed to think that knowledge only came from other humans was beyond him. Such fools, he supposed.

Silence enveloped him, careful and confident, a silence like no other. The silence of trickery and little misconceptions. His back lent on something that was not silent, but that barely fazed his barrier of eery quiet. The convenience store behind him, was still joyously singing, radio blaring, even in the early hours of the morning. This night was no exception. He saw no one on the streets, only him and the snow. A few hours before a slick black cat had decided to use him as a heat source on this cold night and he had no qualms with its doing so. He even took the courtesy of heating his fingertips that now rested between the stray cat's ears. His head leaning back, his eyes half lidded, like he was on the verge of sleep. And, yet he was awake. Nobody would dare attack him. Even the mortals knew to steer clear. They couldn't see his power, but they still could see his danger. It was so obvious that he was capable of a little more than he should of it was scary.

The cat looked up when another man sat down next to the black haired man. He looked nothing like the black haired man. He was blond to black. He was muscular to slender. He was red to green. The one trait they shared was their power. For a second they just sat their, basking in their own glorious magic, but then the slender man seemed to notice he was no longer watching the snow on his own. He turned, green eyes noticing blue irises already turned his way. He raised an eyebrow, but offered no words. The blond man smiled gently.

"Greetings" his voice was husky, his breath leaving temporary mark on the freezing air. White spoke evaporated in a second, the air crisp and clear once again. He looked friendly enough, if not a little soft. "May I sit with you?" He spoke very formally, but perhaps maybe he didn't. He spoke old, more like. The dark haired man nodded soundlessly and returned his dark emerald gaze to the softly falling snow. The blond man wondered what was so important that when he thought about it he had to shut himself off from the world. It was intriguing and he was intrigued. "What are you so ponderous about, if I might be so bold as to ask?" The black haired man thought that was a tremendously tedious thing to say considering that he could of simply asked 'what are you thinking?'. He showed the man his notebook, with his scrawled note.

_People. _

The man frowned a little, but then brightened.

"Any specific people?" He asked, curious bastard. Another note.

_No_.

The blond man frowned a little more, before smiling and leaning his head back contentedly.

"I've had a really god-awful day, you wouldn't believe" he laughed a little and he gained a small hum from the man, inviting him to continue if he so wished. "So this gentleman I work with has an excellent thing for pranks…" he continued, all about his day, occasionally gaining sniggers or perhaps even laughs from the man beside him. He was delighted by this. If he was lucky he would even get a note for a response. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this man didn't talk. The blond man was sure that he could speak he just… didn't want to.

"Where are you staying?" The blond man asked with a smile. _Ah_, the dark haired man thought, _you think I'm homeless, don't you?_ The truth was he had a home. He had a nice little snug apartment, unfortunately he also had a sense of direction meant for villages, not cities. He had meant to only be going out for a walk and now he had accidentally taken up a residence in the snow. Still, he felt no need to tell the blond man of his abilities to be lost.

_Don't know. Home._

The man frowned once again, his eye brows furrowing with well-deserved confusion and concern. The dark haired man's eyes returned gently to the snow that was beginning to fall a little harder. It disconcerted him that he didn't know where he was. It worried him, but he never let it show. To let it show would to be showing weakness and that was not something he found himself interested in.

"You mean the home? Like the homeless shelter?" The blond man looked surprised that he had admitted it, yet the dark haired shook his head frantically and looked remarkably offended. The blond man immediately felt bad.

_At__ home. __My__ home. Idiot._

"Please excuse my rudeness, I made an unjustified assumption and I sincerely apologise" The dark haired man had to admit that the blond man might have been just a little soft in the head, but he wasn't wrong to make the assumption. Still he obviously hadn't yet mastered the art of tact. What a git. The dark haired man huffed and scribbled another note.

_I'm lost._

The dark haired man looked away, his pride slightly bruised from admitting it, but he was getting cold and he was tired and he wanted to go home to his nice warm bed. His cheeks glowed lightly with a pleasant little pink, shame at having to tell the blond man of his directional difficulties colouring his features. The blond man's smile widened and the dark haired man started to feel a little angry. Did he ever stop damn smiling?

The blond man patted him on the shoulder almost making him splutter. He obviously didn't know his own strength.

"Don't worry. Just tell me where you wish to be. The man of iron gave me a magical relic to find my way" His eyes sparkled as he brought out a small glowing block of metal. The dark haired man tapped his shoulder, shame turning to curiosity.

_Do you mean a mobile phone?_

The dark haired man had one himself and he found it most useful. He had been doubtful at first that he would be able to master the device, but soon he found it easy, then again it was always telling him what to do and he wasn't particularly fond of that. The blond man smiled again, his confused face falling and turning back into cheeriness that bordered on annoying.

"Yes, that is what the man of iron referred to it as" The blond man's sapphire eyes returned back down to the lighting brick and he seemed to be confusing him to no end. Soon the black haired man seemed to grow bored of waiting and he snatched the phone from the blond haired man's hands, his slender fingers making much better use of it. He quickly saw where the blond man was going wrong and corrected him, emerald eyes darting in an intelligent manner. He could feel the blond man's eyes on him, but he ignored them with ease. As far as he could tell that man was an idiot. An idiot wielding power that would rival his own, but an idiot none the less. He gave the phone back to the man with a small permanent frown. He scribbled another note.

_I have no idea how to get there, but this is where I live._

He had typed in the address of his apartment into the search bar, but he still didn't even know where he was, so he had no way of getting there. Apparently the blond man hadn't thought of this, not that it surprised the slender man.

The blond man smiled widely when he saw the address.

"Oh" he exclaimed, much to the dark haired man's confusion. "We take residence in the same apartment block. It must be a miracle that we haven't seen each other before" He seemed god-awfully delighted to find out that they lived close together. What a mysterious turn of events. As luck would have it, the dark haired man supposed.

_Would you mind telling me how to get there?_

He wanted desperately to call the man an idiot, but he also wanted desperately to go home and sleep, so he thought it would be best to at least try to be nice. It was the unfortunate truth as shocking and tedious as it was. The blond man once again clapped the smaller man on the back and this time he did splutter uncomfortably. The cat let out a disgruntled yowl, yet the blond man seemed not to even notice her presence.

"Of course, let us go" He was so annoyingly jovial it was almost suffocating him, but still he accepted the man's hand when it was offered. They began to walk side by side, opposites in personality and in size. The blond man seemed to of risen from his melancholy, but the dark haired man was still sporting the same expression he always had. Annoyed and slightly bored. Of course, if you were observant you would see his eyes flickering and darting, taking in information and knowledge, making cross hatched assumptions and storing them in the back of his mind to prove them right at a later date. They walked in pleasant, but chilly silence. The brave and the intelligent.

* * *

The cat curled herself further into the dark haired man's arm, twisting to further access his artificially warm skin. She rubbed the top of her head under his chin to show her appreciation as sour and immature as it was. The cat looked like the man holding her. Clever and cunningly so.

Occasionally the larger blond man would look down at the man at his side and smile slightly. He figured vaguely that he was being creepy and tried to keep his eyes focused in front of him. It was difficult. The man beside him was too intriguing. He had spoken not a word, but the blond man still felt as though they had had a proper conversation. Questions swirled around him, but he didn't ask them. Even he could see that if the man didn't want to talk, he wasn't going to. He was simply one of those people that did exactly what he wanted whenever he wanted to. He was one of those people women called impossible. He was surprised to find himself so curious, he didn't know the man's name and he was already in the verge of wanting to know everything about him. How absurd. Still it had felt nice to tell someone about his day.

They finally came to stand at the foot of a tall glamorous building. It was one of the most expensive buildings in the city and it made almost every other look humble and small. Everything in sight was either white marble or satin. Elegant to the point of obnoxious. The dark haired man scowled at the building, his every movement showing his distaste.

Neither man looked like they belonged in this building. This was a building made for people in suits and ladies in gowns. Not long haired men in jeans. The dark haired man didn't even wear shoes, yet both of them resided here.

"Shall we enter?" The blond man asked, looking down upon his companion. The dark haired man wasn't short. Compared to most he was quite tall. It was simply that the blond man was essentially a tree with blond hair and a meagre amount of intelligence. Not that he put that intelligence to good use.

The dark haired man nodded coldly and bent down to let the cat out of his arms. It was then that the blond man may or may not of lent back a little and checked out his ass. Had checked out his ass he would of noticed that he had the butt of a god, then he would of pushed his gaze forward with pink cheeks and tried not to think about the fact he was checking out a voluntary mute he had only just met. And a MAN. He was shocked and ashamed.

They walked into the building, into the lobby, quiet and comfortable. They took the elevator up the the dark haired man's floor and the blond made a point of walking him to his door. They paused outside of the door labeled 116 and the dark man turned to look up at the blond man, wondering to himself want this buffoon wanted. He raised an eyebrow to prompt whatever he wanted to say.

The blond man, very pointedly held out his large hand.

"My name is Thor" hesitantly the dark haired man took his hand, uncertain. His grip was almost painful and he forced himself not to wince. When his hand was returned to him, he took out his notebook and scribbled note.

_I am Loki. _

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Loki" the name sounded foreign on his tongue, but oddly beautiful. "I will see you around" with that the man now named Loki slipped into the apartment and the other man turned and walked down the corridor. His light brick began to buzz in his pocket. He drew it out as he walked and tapped the green button like the man of iron had told him to. He held it to his ear.

"Jane?" He asked the phone, half expecting it to not reply.

"God, Thor, where are you?" She sounded worried, but mostly annoyed.

"I doubt you would believe me if I told you" he answered, struggling to explain what had just happened.

"Well, no shit. I send you off to get beer and you never return"

author's notes:

Alright, that was fun. This is my first thorki fanfic and I think for a first chapter it turned out quite well. There well be more to come. Reviews, favourites and follows will be welcomed with open arms.

Much love,

Clementine


	2. Ordinary men

Some people are not meant to exist. They just are not meant to live in this world. The world was built for everyday man and those men who reside outside that category are not meant to live. They are created by some sick twist of fate, they are born into the hands of heartbreak and hell, their abilities cursed or embraced, they just aren't meant to exist. For some it means damn, for others it's the reason they keep living. Still these individuals flounder, roaming the world looking for amusement and solace. Some dart from here to now, skipping through time, trying vaguely to do something with their lives. Bruce Banner, of all people, knew this well. He knew that he was no longer one of the ordinary men and it pained him. Loki knew this as well, but unlike banner he had been born that way. He had been born extraordinary and destined to break.

And the both pretended. They both pretended to be ordinary men, one in denial of his abilities, the other of an embrace.

Maybe that was the reason that Loki sort out Thor the day after their haphazard meeting. It is only human nature to seek the company of those who are like you. Even if you aren't human birds of a feather flock together and apparently gods do the same, even gods of a different colour.

In Loki's opinion Thor really should of been expecting him, it was quite obvious that he would make an appearance sooner or later. When he had appeared like a blink cross legged on his bench he had thought, very plainly, that Thor falling back in surprise was over dramatic. He had of course liked over dramatic. Unlike many accusations he was a lot more egotistical than evil.

"Hungry" he barked. He didn't look very different since the night before. His hair had been put back in loose pony tail and he still wore the same dark jeans. His green eyes for once were focused, looking only at Thor, who was still sprawled on the floor looking dumbly shocked. "Hungry" he barked again.

"You… you spoke" the blond man stuttered uncertainly. Loki's voice was beautiful. Elegant and mocking, the same voice a crow would have. Self righteous and wise.

"Really? I didn't notice" sarcasm dripped in abundance from his lips and his face became a sneer. Thor blinked a few more times. He was still in his pyjama's even though it was late into the afternoon. Unlike the other person in the room he needed sleep.

He was going over to the man of iron's tower for a meeting in the evening, but he saw no harm in getting the man on his counter some lunch. He was deathly thin and all. Thor smiled and stood, shaking out his legs as he did so. He was plenty curious about the man's sudden voice, but he figured that those questions could wait.

"You said you were hungry, Loki, what would you like to eat?" Loki looked at him surprised, but nodded almost to himself.

"Anything edible" he said, his bark lowering to what Thor thought must be his normal voice. It took only a few minutes to make two bowls of the 2-minute noodles the captain had informed him how to make. His cooking skills, while quite good, weren't patient enough to go through the hassle of making a real meal. Plus the man on his bench seemed quite hungry.

He gave Loki a blue bowl with a smile and it began to steam. Thor gestured with his hand, beckoning the raven man over to the table, where they sat down and began to eat. Thor looked up at the raven man who was unconsciously being beautiful. His cheeks reddened at the thought.

"How has your day been so far?" It wasn't what he wanted to ask. He wanted to ask who he was, what he wanted, why he had so suddenly gone from voluntary mute to chatty. This man was shrouded in a black veil, like you could only see half of him at one time. His behaviour was so strange and so covered with cobwebs. Like it had been so long since anyone had asked he had forgotten himself.

"Terrible, the mortals have insulted me again" his face twisted into disgust.

"How?" Thor inquired. Loki shook his head and dug his hand into his pocket, bringing out his own magical light brick. The blond man across from him looked on, intrigued about how the mortals could of insulted him. They didn't usually take to insulting gods. Loki put the phone up to Thor's face to emphasise his disgust. Thor took hold the other man's hand, bringing the phone away from his face so he could see the screen properly. What looked like an old old painting from perhaps the fifteenth century tooled back at him. He recognised it immediately. "Look how horrible they made me, I look nothing like that" Loki said, unaware that Thor's shocked face was not, in fact, made out of sympathy for him.

"You are that Loki? Loki, god of mischief?" Thor lowered the phone slightly, Loki's delicate fingers still trapped lightly under Thor's paws. Neither of them noticed the tingles.

Loki looked at him surprised.

"Yeah, who else?"

"Never mind, Loki Liesmith. I'm sorry they thought you looked like that. You look nothing like it" Thor replied with a smile. Loki shrugged and tugged his hand and the phone out of Thor's grip, suddenly realising the physical contact between them. Thor looked back down at his small meal, reeling quietly at the new found identity of his companion. Loki Liesmith, god of mischief and mayhem, one of the big boys. In every society no matter how small there were always those people. Those people that ventured out of the boundaries set by people that had died long before they were born. Those people were sometimes powerful. Sometimes they went out and forgot where they had come from. People like him, people that had ventured out and tried to pretend. Tried to pretend they were just ordinary men. Thor had a job and he worked hard at it, because he wanted to be simple. He didn't want to be as old as he was, he didn't want to be so ancient and yet here he was. Far older than he looked, living among men as they tried to help. He fought and he trained and he was friends with people who were like him. Strong like him and different like him.

Here was another. Another god, another man who had ventured too far. The same, but so beautifully different.

He smiled. He could deal with pretending. Pretending to be an ordinary man.

After a while the man left. He abandoned his seat and the dishes, but Thor didn't mind so much. He still felt that he had made a friend. He liked the idea that he could confide in someone. He couldn't talk to his human friends about his days and the people he could talk to either already knew or didn't care. Loki on the other hand fit into neither category.

For the next few weeks Loki would appear everyday and demand food. Sometimes he would bring his scrolls and stay for the whole afternoon. Thor gradually got used to it and would make two servings for lunch and made different things so that he could discover what Loki liked. Sometimes he would express his like for something. A specific food that Thor would make and the lightening god would make a point of serving it more. It was a simple system. Thor would provide food and Loki would listen to his drabbles, occasionally even making small conversation. Somedays Loki would talk, other days he would bring his notebook. As far as Thor knew, Loki didn't work and his source of income was unknown, but he seemed content, if not always a little disgruntled. He was intelligent and ever so slightly evil. The tricks he played from trivial to major scale. He would always smile cunningly if Thor ever tried to confront him about the moral ethics of his pranks, but after a while he got the message that Loki wasn't listening and rarely did.

On the fourth week and third day after the their meeting Thor returned home to his apartment to find Loki sleeping peacefully among his scrolls. By this point Loki had essentially moved in with him. Sometimes the raven would cook three course meals that tasted like angel tears, and there was a draw in Thor study totally dedicated to Loki and his trinkets. He had essentially taken up a residence.

Loki looked so beautiful when he slept. The permanent scowl lifted and floated away from his face, only leaving his beauty, it was only then that you could really see just how beautiful he was. His mouth was slightly open and his glasses were still perched on his nose, apparently Loki was blind as a bat. His shirt was open, buttons undone, one arm behind his head, the other resting by his side. He was surrounded by his scrolls. Ones both old and ancient, Thor had no idea what they meant, but he knew that they did something important. He crouched next to the sofa with a gentle smile, his hand reaching out and moving some coal black hair out of the Norse god's eyes. Very, very slowly he leaned forward and placed his lips on Loki's forehead, his stubbled scrapping across soft skin, under his fingertips. His skin was always so cool, refreshing. Loki let out a small soft moan and buried his face into the pillow, still sleeping soundly.

"Don't worry, my dear, whatever you are running from, you are safe here" Thor stroked his forehead, eyes half lidded with contentment. His movements slow and important he picked up the man, as light at he was. Loki wriggled in his arms, searching for a comfortable position, he only found it when he was put down on Thor's bed and the covers were pulled up to his chin. Thor stood thoughtfully by the bed, looking down at Loki, trying very hard to focus. It was late, he wanted to sleep, the universe sucked and he had just sacrificed his bed to someone he would at this point call he best friend. Had his moral compass been working at the time, he probably would of slept on the couch with the scrolls he didn't understand, but it wasn't. So instead he went around to the other side of the bed, took off his shoes and belt, loosened his shirt and slid into bed next to the slumbering god. Loki was a man anyway, he wouldn't mind. Still, despite his tiredness, Thor's cheeks burned just a little as he fell asleep to the sound of deep breathing.

Author's notes:

alright, there's my chapter two. I hope you like it, I always like to get my first to chapters out really fast or my mind wanders and I forget I did the first one. Also I just got a text saying my best friend got food poisoning so if anyone has been though that ordeal, please send her your sympathies. Sorry Alex.

Much love,

Clementine

P.s if anyone has an requests on where they would like this story to go, please PM me


	3. Don't flinch

Something was in his hair.

Something nice feeling. Something numerous and tugging. He mumbled something even he didn't quite understand and buried his face further into his pillow. Sleep clouding his mind, making everything dullish and goldish and vague. He moaned and the something in his hair tugged the golden strands, gently urging his head back into what it must of thought was the right position. He groaned, not ready to face the day.

"Stop moving" a voice demanded. "I'm plaiting you're hair in if you move you'll mess it up" Loki? What was Loki doing in his bed? In what parallel universe was he in?

"Loki?" He murmured, his eyes opening just a little. He let out a breath, stretching his toes and groaning, struggling to awaken. "What 're ya doin' in my bed?" His voice was groggy and half pronounced. The fingers in his hair didn't falter, they simply moved in the same continuos pattern, in, out, in, out.

"I suspect it was your doing. I went to sleep in the couch and woke up here" Thor found it strange that He referred to the couch like he lived there. Strange, but actually kind if comforting. "Though it seems that you have not taken advantage of me so I am fine with it"

Thor immediately sat up at the shocking statement. His hair was yanked from delicate fingers. Loki yelled out, sitting up with him and trying desperately to save his work. Thor's head swung around, his eyes blazing and awake instantly.

"I would never do that you! I swear!" He looked incredibly intent on making Loki believe him on the subject. He grabbed a pair of slender shoulders, almost shaking the smaller man. Loki still had he hands out, after the golden locks had slipped from his fingers. Somehow he mind was still partially focused on the fact that he could still save his work. "I won't do that to you, even if you're completely defenceless" his eyes were wide and fierce. Loki held up his hands, a teeny tiny bit fearing for his safety.

"I know. I know. That's why I allowed myself to fall asleep, we've established this already. Be calm" Thor's shoulders slumped and his words and his eyes returned to their initial shape.

"Oh" then, in some magical moment of epiphany, Thor realised that he was clutching a man who's chest was exposed and he had questionable feelings about in a bed and needed to get to work and he blushed like a fool.

"Yeah" Loki said, still being soothing. He bit his lips for a second, thinking "Hungry now" he was now bored of this. He crawled off the bed, moving away from Thor and wondering where the blond man had put his glasses. Then he proceeded to pour hot sauce on a bowel of cereal because he couldn't read the tag and had convinced himself it was milk. He put his black hair into a small pony tail, out of face with a hair band he had found under the couch, still a few strands found their way in front of his eyes.

"Loki!" An uncouth roar came from the bedroom and he turned to see Thor emerge from the door, alarm clock in hand. "What in Asgard's name did you do to my alarm clock?" Sharp eyes switched to the popsicle sitting on his large palm. He vaguely remembered something like an annoying noise, very early in the morning. In his experience that often lead him to do things like freezing alarm clocks. He had gone back to sleep almost immediately afterwards so it wasn't surprising that his memory was a little blurry.

He shrugged.

"I froze it" he didn't under stand what the big deal was. Alarm clocks were pretty cheap and as the god of thunder he must of had access to money anyway. No fuss at all. "It was annoying me" another shrug came from the raven haired god. For a second Thor frowned and Loki considered that he might need to apologise if he wanted to stick around, which he did. He didn't know why, but he liked being in the man's company, as unruly and tedious as it was. He rested his hip against the bench top and waited to find out.

Eventually Thor gave a contented sigh and looked to the dark haired man.

"Could you at least tell me what time it is, I have to get to work" deeming himself out of the proverbial heat Loki shrugged again as he moved over to the other side of the kitchen to make himself some morning tea.

"My phone is on the coffee table" Loki gestured vaguely in the direction living room, knowing that his phone would be stationed there. Thor immediately began to walk away as Loki struggled to remember in which of the pots Thor kept his morning tea in. After a few tries he finally managed it, the making of his tea. He was just adding a little sugar when he heard something crash to the floor.

"Of for the love of Asgard… Loki!" Loki hadn't the faintest idea why Thor had decided that he was going to call his name once again, but for some reason beyond the god's expansive comprehension Thor found the urge to do so.

"What?" All Loki could think at this point was: oh, what have I done now?

"I need you to take me to work! Oh, I'm so late!" Loki still couldn't understand why Thor insisted on shouting, he was only in the other room.

"Why should I?" Loki was perfectly capable of taking Thor wherever he needed to go in the blink of an eye, but he was also quite liking lounging about and drinking his tea. He raised the cup to his lips as it steamed pleasantly. At least this time he had gotten the bottle labeled "milk". Thor poked his head around the door and looked at him pleadingly.

"Come on, Loki. Please" oh, god, those eyes! Those eyes! To many Thor's sapphire orbs would of been unable to resist, but Loki found himself unfazed by the stare, if not a little fond. Almost… familiar.

"What do I get if I do? I might be persuaded if there were some toffees involved" ah, yes. Loki, being the god living among the mortals that he was, had access the worlds largest bouts of jewels and gold the world had to offer and much to his personal delight lots and lots of candy. It seemed that the great god of mischief had a sweet tooth fit for a comical cartoon character. And yet he was a total and utter sucker for homemade toffees, specifically the ones Thor made. Said maker of the legendary toffees lit up.

"Three batches" he declared, he was not, as it seems, above bribery. Some much for a god of nobility.

"Deal" and with that they were off. "Think about who you want to be with" then Loki snapped his fingers and the room disappeared in a flash of black smoke.

* * *

It was luck and luck alone that Dr. Bruce Banner wasn't doing something incredibly delicate when Thor decided to pop in for a chat. He could of been using explosives or something of that sort. The sudden appearance of a half dressed Viking could of blown them all to bits. It was just luck that saved their lives, luck and the fact that he desperately needed to finish all the paper work Tony had dumped on his desk the day before. Irresponsible bastard.

Still, while he didn't blow anything up it gave him one hell of a fright. He yelled out frantically, almost falling out of his chair.

"Bloody hell Thor! You scared me so much!" He clutched his chest, his heart pounding. Thor smiled apologetically and then looked at him confused.

"Wait, why am I here? I am meant to in the presence of the man of iron" he looked around, taking in the white walls of Banner's office. This was most definitely not where he had meant to be.

"I completely agree, why are you here?" Banner's nose twitched as the possible possibilities flew though a mind so many people craved.

"Well, he must of accidentally thought of you and the man of iron together in some point in time so the magic just decided to choose on its own who to got to" a head poked out from behind the large Norse man, lazy green eyes looking over the doctor he had never met before. Banner's eyes widened and he stared at the man, who was calmly sipping his tea. He almost... very almost muttered something he shouldn't of, but he didn't because if there was one this he was better at most at controlling, it was himself. Instead he just stared, slightly dumbfounded. "What?" The man asked, noticing the stare. Thor looked from the man to right and then back at the doctor wondering what was going on between the two. He suddenly had the urge to stand between them.

Banner shook his head and smiled.

"Nothing. You just look an awful lot like someone I previously knew, sorry"

"It's fine. We'll be going now" the man took another sip of his tea and clicked his fingers. The pair disappeared again and Banner put his head down on the desk, breathing out a deep, deep breath. He texted Tony, figuring it would be funny.

**Don't flinch. **

* * *

Tony got the text exactly five seconds before Thor and Loki appeared. When they did he switched his gaze between them and his phone.

"Oh" he said "so that's what he meant" he scratched the back of his neck and turned to his friend and comrade along with the person he so desperately wanted to call an enemy, but that wouldn't work. Of course it wouldn't. He couldn't interfere with Odin's punishment. He would just have to play it cool. "So what can I do for you, oh half clothed ones?" It was true. Loki was only wearing a pair of jeans and an open dress shit he had neglected to button and Thor hadn't gotten as far as a shirt as yet. Both of them looked like they had been dragged out of bed, which in fairness, they had.

"Man of iron. I have misplaced the key to my office and I need you to fashion me another" Thor's voice was always booming and Loki winced at the way the words vibrated metallically around the workshop.

"What about you?" Tony's eyes switched to the other man, standing beside Thor, holding a cup of tea to his chest. Out of their armour they looked almost normal. Loki looked so different than the last time they had seen each other and he guessed so did he. Though the god would never know that they had even met before this.

"I am simply taxi service, being paid in toffees" Loki was unchanged on the inside though. While, the hatred and torture was gone from him eyes that irritable personality stayed put. So it turned out that Loki had just been born that way.

"Fair enough, you can hang out here until I finish the key" Tony smiled a smile that only he knew was fake and Loki nodded to him before disappearing with a click of his fingers. That made him flinch, but he hid it in a yawn. He reappeared a few seconds later, in his arms a sleek looking laptop and a pair of spectacles balanced on his nose. He took a seat on a worn out sofa that Tony sometimes took naps on when he was too tired to walk to his bedroom.

"I shall take my leave. Please look after him and call me when the key is finished" Thor's words are directed at Tony, but everyone in the room could hear the demand. In his voice was a specific "behave" directed solely at Loki, who scoffed, annoyed. As he was leaving the god on the sofa looked up.

"Toffees" he barked.

"I'm on it, Loki"

Tony returned to his work after he left, constantly stealing glances back at Loki, distrust in his stance. He alternated between welding things and texting banner.

_So what should we do?_

**Nothing. We don't know who he is as far as he's concerned. **

_Yeah, but... _

_He's evil. _

**Not anymore. **

_He looks perfectly evil to me. _

**No he doesn't, he looks normal. **

Loki got up and made himself another cup of tea, before sitting back down at one of the work benches, his glasses keeping his hair back from his face. He seemed to think he owned the place.

_I think he's summoning satan in my workshop._

**I can assure you, he's not. **

_You don't know that_.

**I can guess. **

Loki, as it happened, was not summoning satan. He was simply continuing in his work. The fact that his work had a lot to do with summoning elemental spirits was beside the point. He was so deeply immersed in his work, in his idea, in his entertainment, he failed to noticed that Stark was looking at him in total amazement. Amazement that Loki was literally plucking water out of the air. Lava fell into his palm and he held it like a rope, like it was as cool as the water was.

_No, he's most definitely summoning satan. _

Author's notes:

For the record all mysteries will be revealed sooner or later, though my abilities for plot holes are occasionally voluptuous, I think this is going to work out so just... Hang tight. I hope you liked this chapter. I really loved doing the correspondence between Banner and Stark. I completely ship them as best buds.

much love,

Clementine


	4. Enemy of the rain

As Banner had predicted Loki wasn't summoning satan, he was instead, if you were to ask him, doing something very clever indeed. If you were going to ask him which you just might, he would also tell you to scram because you were distracting him, which was what he told Tony to do when he asked. But then the man of iron came back with a bottle of whiskey and two shot glasses and Loki decided that he would let the man in on his project. And that conversation lead to a discussion on the price tags of technology which lead to contacting Banner so that he could explain to them exactly how much money they would need to have to make a portal into the underworld so that they could have a sauna with the devil, who apparently was good friends with Loki. After a long explanation of why they wanted to be in a sauna with satan himself was explained Banner had sighed and explained just how impossible that idea was, to this Loki had sighed and said that they would just have to take the stairs. Eventually Banner came down from his office do discover if his best friend's brains had been sucked out by the god of mischief playing Mr Nice Guy. You can imagine his surprise when he walked in to find the two men knee deep in a drinking contest, involving the finest Russian vodka money can by and American whiskey that was older than Tony times three. Two of the many bottles sat on the floor, empty, but neither of the two men even looked vaguely drunk. He glanced at his watch. Oh god, there go two bottles of thousand dollar liquor and it was only lunch time. He froze in the doorway when he saw the shining black blade in Loki's fingers. The black haired man pointed it threateningly at Tony who merely laughed and said something which made Loki laugh as well. Then Bruce had noticed that small wooden figure in Loki's hand and the wood chips around his feet. What a relief, he realised he was only carving something. It was to be later explained that Loki planned to charm the doll and sell it to a small band of dwarves in exchange for some ancient scrolls they didn't know the value of.

The three of them got on famously, almost annoyingly so. Banner still managed to flinch every time Loki pointed the knife at him, but his idea of "maybe you're not as evil as we first thought" grew as the morning dissipated into afternoon. At some point the man of iron finished the key for Thor and he and Loki left to "go play office" as Loki had mischievously put it. Loki had returned fifteen minutes later chewing on his candies saying that he got kicked out for tripping one of the assistants and he had left his laptop here. Banner and Stark had been mid experiment so he had calmly decided that he would simply set up shop in the workshop as see where that got him. After the two other men had concluded their rather… explosive experiment something both disastrous and impatient happened.

Loki stared at the celling almost napping, but really just dozing. The man called Bruce Banner was sleeping peacefully on one of the stools and the egocentric man called Tony Stark was doing something vaguely interesting with wires and red paint. Loki figured he could go to sleep if he wanted to, but he didn't really want to. He wasn't really tired, he was just thinking. He stood, abandoning his laptop on the sofa. He approached the first scientist only to find he was asleep. He moved on to the second scientist, searching relentlessly for entertainment. His work was leaving him with the canny feeling that he needed a more interesting hobby, so he opted to annoying the man of iron until he was told what he was doing with all the wiring. His hand landed on Tony's shoulder and he peer over at the twist of fingers and red and blue wires. It resembled a six grader's science project on steroids.

"So what are yo-" he was cut off by the sound of the door opening. Both scientists turned to see who had opened the workshop door, but they were only met with the sound of yelling and then a great whoosh of air. Loki only just managed to sidestep the attack to avoid being tackled by malicious intent. Unfortunately he wasn't quick enough to counter the second attack, falling prey to the human's quick witted willingness to get down and dirty. The air was knocked out of him with a sturdy "oomph" and he fell onto his back, but a god will do as a god does best. With a single flick of his wrist the man who had decided that Loki was his wrestling partner became slack. Loki snorted angrily and pushed the man off him, brushing himself off with a scowl. Banner was already kneeling down in beside the man trying to check his vitals, his face as white as a sheet.

"He's dead" the man stuttered quietly. Loki scoffed. "Oh, god, Clint…"

"Oh, please, he's not dead. Well, he is, but…" Loki snapped his fingers and the man immediately gasp a huge gulp of air, his eyes bulging. "See, there he is. I told you" Loki looked somewhat smug, if not incredible annoyed. That wasn't surprising, he had just been tackled for no apparent reason. He crossed his arms over his still half dressed chest and looked at the gasping man. He tried to launch himself at the god again, but was held back by the man of iron, much to the man of iron's immediate dismay. He dragged Clint out of the room, just in time to hear Bruce saying to Loki that he really just wasn't good with strangers. Tony almost rolled his eyes, if that was the best excuse they could come up with, they were fucked.

"What the hell, Tony?! Why did you hold me back?!" Clint fell back once they were in the corridor, no longer struggling.

"Well, some of us kind of don't want Odin to come in a beat us up for interfering with his parenting skills. We can't interfere with the punishment" Tony was growling. Needless to say he wasn't all too fond of being beaten to dead by the king of the gods.

"Odin? Wha-"

"Yeah, Odin, god of the gods. Zeus' equivalent" Tony huffed and crossed his arms. His electronic heart buzzing quietly.

"You mean the god of bad parenting" Clint muttered. "Still, why the heck is Loki here? I though he was being punished in Asgard"

"This is his punishment. He doesn't remember a thing. He had his whole memory wiped, he knows nothing. Doesn't know where he came from or how he got here. All he knows is that he is Loki, god of mischief. We can't interfere" Tony had been lectured extensively on the subject of "Loki's Devine punishment will cause him more pain than any mortal had the capacity to understand". According to Bruce the Asgardians valued home above all else, so Odin had rid his son of that honour, forcing him into the life of a roamer. "Thor doesn't remember he's his brother and we can't tell either of them that they're brothers or, so help me, we're going to have our asses handed to us by super powerful legends, bad parenting or otherwise" Tony stood there frowning and huffing, because he was having very conflicted emotions about the guy. He hated the Loki that had tried to wage war on Earth. He _hated_ him above anything. But this Loki, the Loki that wore glasses and drank tea and could actually hold conversations with him. That Loki he actually kind of liked. He enjoyed his company the same way that he enjoyed Bruce's company. He was a fellow scientist, only he studied magic where he studied robotics. He figured it wouldn't be too bad to have the guy around every now and then, to help with experiments and such. Maybe he would be able to get Thor out of whatever rut he had gotten himself into. He figured that Thor kind of knew that he had lost something important, but he just couldn't tell what it was. Tony figured that maybe if he had Loki back, not as a brother, it might make him forget that feeling.

"That's still doesn't explain what he's doing here, if he doesn't remember anything why would he just magically show up?" While Tony did want to argue the fact that Loki was, in all actuality, magic he simply shrugged.

"He came with Thor. They're both gods and brothers even if they don't know about it, of course they're gonna gravitate towards each other" after that Clint walked off, grumbling about this and that, uncomfortable with the idea that a less evil Loki, but a Loki nonetheless was wandering around his work place. He was probably going warn Natasha and the Captain not to attack the god unless they wanted an angry god of bad parenting on their asses. Tony went back into the workshop to find it only occupied by one. Bruce then explained to him that Loki had decided to take his leave and that they were to tell Thor that he was ordering pizza.

* * *

When Thor returned home that day he found his apartment empty save for a half eaten pizza on the counter and a few misplaced scrolls. He sighed. The day had taken too long. He had so much paper work to do, he felt like he was suffocating. The earthlings were currently pretending that he was an ambassador of some sort for his people, but really they just wanted to keep him occupied while they tried to figure out whether to try and make him leave or not. They did basically the same with the man of iron and the hulk. Opting to give the two of them labs and projects instead of just talking to them. Normally on a day like this he would call Jane for a marathon of Midgardian movies, but she was somewhere across the seas for her work. He considered going down stairs and rousing Loki from whatever dream he had submerged himself in, but he figured he would just wait until Loki decided for himself to make an appearance. From what he had heard from the man of iron his friend had had quite the day. Though he was glad that they got on well. Perhaps having Loki around his work place would be quite nice.

For a little while Thor only stretched out on the couch, eating the cold pizza. The Captain had let him borrow some clothes so he was still dressed respectively by mortal standards, so he wondered vaguely if he looked normal. He didn't usually, but he supposed he might be getting used to this world as chaotic as it was. Eventually he fell asleep, not even bothering with the paperwork in his bag, its not like they could fire him anyway. He liked to think he was irreplaceable.

He slept soundly until he was jolted from his slumber by the sound of his phone ringing insistently. He mindlessly reached for it, Loki's ringtone blaring through out his cold apartment. He had vaguely gotten used to the idea of his phone in the sense that he knew that you had to press the green glowing button when it buzzed. He held the thin piece of metal to his ear, blinking blearily at the darkness.

"Ca' I 'elp ya?" As always his old accent came through when he was half asleep, but he was usually too sleepy to care.

"Thor, I don't know where I am!" A voice cried from down the phone. Thor's eyes sprung open at the sound of Loki's startled, over dramatic voice. He could hear teeth chattering through the phone and a sound like static he couldn't recognise. "Please come get me, I'm freezing and its raining too" as soon as he said the words a great flash of lightening struck outside Thor's window and for a second the living room was cast in a illuminating white light. He wasn't bothered by the lightening in the slightest, but he heard Loki give a startled yelp. Despite all odds Loki actually sounded distressed.

"Where are you?" Of course he was going to go get him. He couldn't just abandon his friend in the rain, he barely even managed conjure up the thought of just leaving Loki in the rain. Loki, as he had thought, had no idea where he was, but he listed some landmarks and Thor knew how to get there. He hung up with a sigh, pulled on his jacket, put his hair up in a ponytail and jogged down the stairs, a towel in hand. It took fifteen minutes to drive to Loki's destination, but once he got there he realised he should of gone faster. Wind and rain lashed at the sides of the tight build car and he could barely see the road even with the powerful headlights. He could just make out a figure standing on the side of the road and he pulled up beside it. Immediately the door opened and the sound of the rain deafened the inside of the car. It was only until the figure looked up and the door was closed that Thor was certain it was Loki, though he was much different than before. His hair was wet and clumped together in stringy ropes, his lips were as blue as the ice he wielded and his completion sickly pale. He was shivering violently and his arms were wrapped tightly around himself. Thor hadn't previously known it was possible to be that wet, but, hey, the things you learn. He immediately reached over to the freezing man, wrapping him tightly in the large plush towel had brought along with him. He tried to make it so tight that it would stop his shaking, but he failed. Instead of dwelling on it he just blasted the heat and Loki nodded to him in thanks, unable to speak through chattering teeth.

They drove home in silence and they climbed the stairs in the same state. Their was no dispute that Loki wouldn't be going back to his own apartment. By the time Loki spoke a word he was sitting in front of the sofa with his legs crossed wearing clothes that were three sizes too big while Thor sat on the sofa with a hair dryer in hand. Fingers moved through jet black hair, drying it warm.

"Thank you" he said quietly. "Thank you for coming and getting me" Thor could tell that Loki was ashamed that he had gotten lost more than once and called for help to Thor on both counts, but in all honesty he didn't mind at all. He was glad that Loki could trust him enough to ask for help. He was glad that it had been him his friend had called.

"Your perfectly welcome. I'm just happy you aren't still out there" he kept running his fingers through dark silky hair even though it was perfectly, simply because he liked the feel of it. "Would it be alright if I slept with you in the bed tonight?" He asked tentatively. They had already gone over the "I won't try anything with you and I'm really adamant about this" thing, so he didn't see any reason why he would be denied, but if Loki wished it so he would sleep on the couch. Loki didn't answer straight away, his head getting tugged one way or another at the hand of sturdy fingers.

"I would be fine with that" he answer softly, leaning his head back to look at the blond one, his head lodged loosely between a pair of track suit clad knees. "Wouldn't have it any other way actually" Thor searched for a hint of joke in Loki's eyes, but was only met with honesty, seriousness, and smiling appreciation.

_You will be the death of me_, he thought.

Author's notes:

hot damn, I'm on a roll with this. I'm seriously digging the idea of Loki getting in with Tony and Bruce as a science bro, but I also really like the idea of Thor coming to get Loki in the rain. I'm sorry, I live on fluff, if I don't have it I literally start wilting. It's kind of depressing.

Much love,

Clementine


	5. Gods catch colds

Warmth.

Too warm.

Hot.

Scalding.

Slowly, very slowly, his brain began to awaken, the sparks of neurones becoming more festive as thoughts began to dance through his consciousness. His soft breathing was mirrored by another stream of more laboured breath. He blinked wearily and was met with the sight of his celling, white and pristine just like every other morning. He let out a big breath, slowly becoming aware that he wasn't alone in a space that he was usually alone in. Something was splayed over his mouth and cheek, something that felt like spider web, but it didn't bother him really. His mind ached for an answer to a question he didn't know and he wondered to himself if he would actually go to work today.

Probably not.

He liked the idea of having a lazy day with Loki a little too much for work to tempt him, plus it's not like he ever really did anything any way. Loki. It took a little too long for comfort for him to figure out that the warmth curled against his side was actually Loki. Perhaps it was because Loki's skin was usually so cool and so cool the warmth was not that it took him so long to figure it out. He yawned, covering his mouth with the hand that was not mysteriously wound around the source of warmth at his side. Perhaps if he was actually awake he would've pushed Loki away or gotten up and gone to work, followed by feelings, but he wasn't, so instead he simply stared at the celling and wondered what he wanted to have for breakfast.

It occurred to him briefly that considering that Loki's skin was always the temperature of a cool summer breeze that maybe, considering it wasn't at this point, something wasn't quite right. Then again he wasn't particularly good at dealing with not quite right. Wrong he could deal with. Not quite right he couldn't. Usually he just yelled at his problems until they went away.

"Pancakes" he muttered to himself. "Bacon" His voice was met by the groan of another. He vaguely looked down the form in his arms. Loki was turned away from him, but Thor's arm was wrapped around his slender waist. His black hair was splayed over his mouth and Thor could feel long legs entwined in his own. Loki's cheeks were pink with fever, but the rest of him was deathly pale and weak looking. His forehead was burdened with a think shine of sweat. His breathing was chesty and struggling to keep up with itself and Thor frowned. He didn't know much about the grand world of Migardian diseases, but he had heard from Banner and the man of iron that they could lead to some very bad consequences. He wondered whether he should be worried before realising that he already was. Loki's eyebrows were furrowed together in his sleep and he seemed on the verge of waking. He curled himself into a tight ball, and a groan was emitted from his lungs. He tightened his hold on Loki's waist and mindlessly reached over to the bedside table where his Midgardian telecommunication device was stationed. Usually his phone would tell him what time it was and thankfully it seemed that this was one of those times. 10:04am. Well, he was late.

"Bugger" he muttered. He considered calling Dr Banner so that he could come and check that Loki was not in fact about to actually die, but he dismissed the idea. He wouldn't want to bother the good doctor. If Loki got any worse he would call, but at this point all he could think to do was go find the first aid box that he had never used. He heard Loki whine as he moved away. He was careful, making sure that the god was properly covered when he left. He walked out the room and came back a few minutes later with a wet cloth, placing it gently on Loki's forehead, hoping to calm his roaring fever. He remembered his mother doing it when he was a child and sick in his chambers. He also remembered someone else being there. While he was ill, a smooth voice reading to him, from fairytales to the foggy maze of chemistry. He would only ever remember that voice, that faceless silhouette that would comfort him and take care of him when he was in pain. When he was ill a voice would talk him. When he fell over and hurt himself clever fingers would heal the wound. When he would fight with his family and slam his door a hand would rub his back and he would cry into a cool body. Just a faceless spectre in his childhood. He frowned to himself as he went to his kitchen, planing to make breakfast for him and Loki. He pushed the thoughts of the spectre far from his mind, it always made him sad for some reason, maybe it was because he never saw the spectre now, he was missing from his life, now just memories in the back of his mind, barely seen, but remembered so vividly.

* * *

Thor stood half asleep at the stove. The captain had taught him how to make a "proper American breakfast" a few weeks before and he found himself never craving the meal more. At first it had felt a little weird to be making it for two, albeit one a smaller serving. It had felt like he was making food for a ghost, a wish. It felt unreal. Perfect. If he hadn't been half asleep and barely even managing to flip the pancakes, eggs and bacon he probably would of shook his head, trying to dismiss his feelings and thoughts. He would probably also tell himself it was improper to be have such feelings for a man no less. The grand prince of Asgard should be above such . Apparently, he wasn't by any standards, still he felt no need to admit that to himself or anyone else. He was fairly content about just ignoring his own emotions until they went away.

He felt warm feverish forehead press into his shoulder and he heard a hearty groan. Hands wound around his waist, Loki's unusual warmth burning into his skin. Thor lifted his arm a little and peered at the man hugging him. Green eyes looked at him quietly, cheeks bright. His gaze was blank and dazed, like his only intellectual ability was to be happy to see him.

"G'mornin' Loki" he said with a blank expression. He was a little too half asleep to really care that he wasn't meant to be enjoying having another man's arms around him.

"G'morning Thor" Thor sensed that Loki wanted to use his words, his long properly articulated words, but he was just too weak. He buried his face in Thor's shoulder to console himself. "Feel crappy" he murmured, Thor could feel Loki's frown becoming burnt into his flesh, but he didn't particularly mind. If Loki wanted to feel sorry for him self while he was in this state and that happened to involve him being cuddled he wasn't going to fight it.

"I kna' love, ya'll be fin' inna bit" Thor yawned to himself, barely noticing his slipped term of endearment. He would later, but it was not yet later. "G' back ta bed. I'll bring ya som' breakfast so'n" he flipped one of the eggs and watched the two frypans with half lidded eyes. Too tired to really care about anything. He heard Loki give a delirious giggle.

"We sound like a couple" he then wandered off, presumably to go collapse back into the bed he had emerged from, leaving Thor with a roaring blush and a sudden awareness of his embarrassing movements.

Fifteen minutes later they sat side by side, propped up in bed, their shoulders pressed together. Thor was eating heartily and Loki was doing the equivalent of trying to find the whether forecast in the yolk of his egg while trying his best not to fall asleep. Five minutes later Thor's shoulder was no longer an empty spot and Loki's laboured breaths filled the room.

* * *

If you can imagine the sight then you would understand why Tony Stark was struggling to stay in the air he was laughing so hard. He was kind of hopping around on the breeze, tears streaming down his covered face and he was hooting. He was lucky that the glass was sound proof or they both would of awoken. Loki's black little head was resting on Thor's shoulder and Thor's head was resting on Loki's. there was a line of drool going from the corner of Thor's mouth into black hair. They were just sleeping and no one else would of found it that funny, but all Tony could think was "the gods are having nappy time". It just sounded hilarious to him.

He was peering though the corner of the window when Thor awoke. On later deduction it was probably because Tony had sent Steve to knock on the door. He watched as Thor wiped away the trail of saliva from his chin and stood, all the while carefully adjusting Loki so he wouldn't be uncomfortable. Tony was almost touched by how sweet he was being, almost but not quite.

Tony watched as Thor left the room, taking the plates with him, while Loki remained quietly sleeping. His gaze switched to the black haired man. He wondered to himself how someone who had destroy so much could be so oblivious to his own destruction. It was like he was simply waiting for his memories to return so he could return to being the villain. Like he was just wasting time until whatever he had lost was be retuned to him. Tony smiled sadly to himself and supposed it was magic, twisted and cruel.

Tony rapped his metal fist against the window pane, wanting to come in and make fun of Thor for sleeping like that with Loki. It took many raps on the glass for Loki to finally awaken. It began with one eye peeking open and blinking, before doing the same with the other. Tiny watched as Loki sat up and yawned rubbing the back of his head, looking around he room with a dazed expression, as if he'd entirely forgotten how he came to be there. He heard the sound of metal against glass and he might of sensed the man of iron's impatience. He turned slowly to the window, his eyes were glazed with fever but Tony was unable to see that. He knocked on the window again and motioned for Loki to come, open the window and let him in. Very slowly he did, moving like his bones were broken. He tugged his sleeves to cover his wrists as he moved across the floor. Nimble fingers from the day before seemed clumsy now as they slipped and slid with the window latch. Finally it came apart and Loki opened it wide, forgetting that he was meant to step aside and let the man of iron in, so he instead simply stood in from of the full length window, blinking dazedly. The metal over Tony's face slid back and his face was revealed like some corny magic trick.

"Loki! My man!" Tony grinned, being overly jovial like what he said was something resembling humour. Because he was an idiot he failed to notice the fact that Loki was swaying with exhaustion"What are you doing here?"

"I live here" Loki murmured as he fell into a fever induced delirium. If hadn't been for the fact that Stark already had his arms out in some sort of deranged greeting motion, Loki probably would of fallen out the window, not to his death, but it probably wouldn't of ended well either. Thankfully the man of iron managed to catch the falling god. Panicking almost immediately, but somehow managing not dropping the black haired man.

"Jesus dude, foreplay first" he stared at the man in his arms, who had began to snore peacefully despite the fact that he was teetering out of a twenty-story window. For a second all he could do was gape, but then he decided that something was most definitely wrong. "Thor!" He hollered, feeling a little annoyed that he was the one he who had to deal with a fainting god. He had been a ridiculously nice that morning, he did not deserve this bullshit. He heard the sound of pounding footsteps and figured that at least he wasn't going to be hovering by the side of a building forever.

"What happened?" Of course Thor's immediate reaction to seeing his friend on the verge of falling out of the window and one of his colleges was the only thing keeping him alive was to ask what had happened and not what was stilling the process of happening.

"I don't know! He just fainted, get him off me so I can get inside" he said indignantly. Thor had phrased the question like Tony had just decided to hit Loki over the head with a baseball bat. Thor quickly stepped forward and lifted Loki up, cradling him in his arms. Loki immediately curled into him, not even vaguely awake, it was like he was trying to steal Thor's heat source, just as he began to shiver.

"What's wrong with him?" Steve came around so that he could also see Loki as Tony came floating into the room, before standing solidly on the floor. Of course the cap reacted a little bit to seeing Loki, just a little twitch in his left eye that only Tony noticed. Stark had told him the day before at dinner that Loki had returned and he seemed a lot less bent on destruction as he had been. Heck, Steve had gotten the full Loki presentation. Most people in his situation would of been considering killing Loki now, while he was weak and defenceless. Thankfully Steve had to be the most honourable person this world had to offer. He wouldn't of tried to fight Loki unless it was entirely fair game.

"I believe he has what you Midgardians would refer to as a "cold"" Thor shrugged, not making any move to put Loki down. He was once again showing the tenderness he had when he had left to get the door.

"Dude, he looks like a has malaria over here and you think he has the flu" Tony huffed. "Jesus, I don't know how he survived this long" Loki began to shiver violently and Thor unconsciously held him a little tighter.

"I have too many names" Loki muttered to himself, nobody listening.

"So what do we do with him? He looks pretty sick" Steve asked, looking concerned, eyes still trained on Loki, like he expected him to reveal his catastrophic plan at any moment.

"If he was human I would say take him to the hospital immediately and then never let him leave" Tony was looking slightly disgusted.

"Loki Laufeyson Liesmith Wordsmith" Loki began to mumble his numerous and apparently troublesome names.

"But he's not human" Thor prompted with a frown.

"And then I have to add "of Asgard" onto everything" Loki murmured into Thor's shirt.

"Exactly!" Exclaimed Tony. Steve was looking at him in disdain. "And usually when non-human people look like they have malaria I always think its a great move to call Bruce and see where that gets us" Tony clapped his hands together, grinning despite the somewhat dubious situation.

"You know, you shouldn't bother Bruce with every little thing. I'm sure he's doing something important right now" Steve reprimanded, crossing his arms and looking generally unimpressed. By this point Thor had wandered off, still carrying Loki. He wandered into the living room and set Loki down on the sofa, before sitting down next to him his arm slung over his thin shoulders. He could hear a least half of a conversation on whether Bruce was doing anything important and a debate on whether Loki was actually dying from the other room, but he wasn't really listening. Loki was muttering something into his side, where he sat curled like a cat. Thor thought it was a adorable, justifying it that it was simply an observation and nothing to do with the actual Loki or the actual him. Then he turned on the tv and began to wait for the other to to stop arguing an make up their minds. He was fine with it either way.

Fifteen minutes later the man of iron and the captain emerged from the bedroom, Tony looking triumphant, Steve looking defeated.

"Bruce says to bring him in" Tony was grinning like it was all a big adventure.

Author's notes:

this took me so long to type out. I know what I was going to write, but the already high level of laziness in my system just sky rocketed today. I hope you liked this chapter, lots of fluff and fun stuff.

Much love,

Clementine


	6. The things you do for family

"What… what did they do to you?" Bruce was leaning against the bench, his hand under his glasses, pinching his eyes. His eyes where pained, he felt like he was drowning in confusing thoughts. This changed everything he believed. He wore one of his silly brightly coloured shirts that Tony liked, his usual lab coat hanging on his broad shoulders.

Loki looked at his toes, grabbing ahold of them, his chest leaning on his knees. He sat on one of medical benches of Bruce's med bay, shirtless, cold and brutally scarred. The lines on his skin he usual tried desperately to hide laid bare, he figured it would be okay to show Bruce considering he was a doctor. He was fairly sure that mortals had some sort of doctor/patient confidentiality policies. He didn't really care that much about his scars, he just hated the memories that came with them. They were ugly and brutish and he hated them for what them represented.

"I don't remember much" he said meekly. He was so tired, and his head hurt and he hated everyone and he wanted toffees. "They put me in a cell, sometimes they would leave me alone in the dark for weeks on end. Not food or sunlight, chained to the wall like an animal" yes, Bruce could see the scars around his neck where a primitive steel collar had rubbed his neck for so long the marks had become permanent. "But when they did come back they would come day after day, as if they had forgotten how much fun it was. The would beat me until I was on the verge of death. They would thrash me with a whip and break my legs, over and over" he spoke of it with such blankness. Not quite indifference, but close, it was like a safety mechanism. He was protecting himself from his own memories and scars by making himself blank. Like he was shutting down his mind so that he could recall it without screaming in agony.

"Loki" Banner sighed, he was having trouble taking it in, what he must of gone through. "Did they… you know" Loki looked up, green eyes dull and fevered. His shoulders were sweating as was the of him, and his eyes were half lidded. He showed no sign of knowing how the doctor's sentence ended. "Did they touch you?" His voice was earnest, like he was offering no answer as an answer. Loki laughed bitterly and shook his head.

"No, for that the tormenter needs to see the tormentee as more than an animal" Loki looked out the window, avoiding Banner's gaze. How broken are you? How badly have you be scarred? How long did it take you to yield?

"Who? Who did this to you?" Loki hesitated.

"The Chitari" Banner sucked in a rapid breath. This changed everything, everything that was believed thought of the New York attack had just been altered. It was thought that Loki was controlling Chitari, but it seemed... that was not the case. "They kept asking me something. A request, an order of some sort. I don't remember what they wanted me to do, but it took me five years to agree" five years? He went through torture for five years?

"What made you say yes?" The good doctor couldn't keep in his curiosity. He knew it was hurting Loki to recall, he knew it must of been agonising, but he needed to know. He needed to know what would make Loki destroy millions of lives. Loki eyes furrowed, as if he was struggling to remember.

"My family" he said quietly, his face still slightly confused. "They threatened to hurt my family. I... I don't remember who my family is, but at the time they were very important to me" Loki was lost in thought. "I suppose that's why I like being with Thor" he turned back to Banner. "He reminds me that I saved what was most important to me; that I didn't fail to protect what I love"

* * *

Tony and Thor sat side by side in Tony's lab, waiting for Banner to finish up with Loki. They were chatting about this and that, the existence of unicorns and the quality of the Midgardian ale, so on and so forth. The lab was cold and distinctly sterile. It was the same one that Tony had been in when Thor and Loki had come and popped into the first time Loki came. Wires and papers lay strewn around, but both men were oblivious to the clutter. Thor was leaning his chin down on his hammer and Tony was welding something. The captain had long taken his leave, deciding to abandon what he didn't quite care for.

"So how did you two meet anyway? Asgardian god convention?" Tony raised an eyebrow and lent forward, eager to here Thor's answer. It was a question he had been itching to ask since the arrival of Loki, but he had resisted until it was appropriate. He figured it was appropriate now and if it wasn't… well, he didn't really mind.

"Do you mean me and Loki?" Thor asked, looking for specification.

"Yeah, you see other Norse gods around here?"

"We are attracted to one another" Thor said plainly. Tony raised an eyebrow, he doubted Thor meant they both thought the other was hot so it had to be something else. Thor continued. "Loki is incredibly powerful, more powerful than I for sure, but I am also powerful. Power attracts power, it was coincidence that we met when we did, but it would of happened eventually" Thor smiled to himself at the thought that in any alternate reality it was still an assurance that he and Loki would inevitably meet.

"So how powerful are we talking about here?" Tony asked cautiously. Naturally he didn't really think that the man who had single handedly destroyed a good half of New York being powerful was too shit hot.

"Very powerful. More powerful than he should be really, but I suppose it shouldn't be surprising" Thor shrugged to himself, not catching Tony's look of wariness.

"Why not? He's just a trickster god, don't you have, like, ten of them" Tony was intrigued. Thor looked up at him, surprised and a cool breeze washed over him from the air conditioner in the corner.

"Well…" Thor hesitated for a second, thinking carefully about his answer. "He not _just_ a trickster god. He's _the_ trickster god, the one and only. You are right there are a lot of gods, but he is one of the most powerful, because he is the head of a category, the power of the eight trickster gods combined into one person. To add to that he's also the god of scholarship. At full strength he would be virtually indestructible"

Well, we're fucked beyond belief, Tony though to himself.

* * *

After a little while Thor wandered off, probably up to his office so that he could finish some paperwork. He left Tony with clear instructions to take Loki back to his apartment as soon as Bruce was finished. He seemed hesitant to be leaving his friend, but at least he trusted Bruce enough to leave with him someone he considered his responsibility. Tony had almost scoffed. He had never seen such attachment after such a short time, according to Thor they had only known each other since the month before and already he was taking care of Loki like they were... well... brothers. If you asked Tony of course he would say spouses and he would be right. They acted like husbands going on a hundred years of marriage.

Fifteen minutes after Thor left Tony decided promptly that he was bored and usually when he was bored he would go annoy Banner, so that's what he did. He marched purposefully out of his lab and down the hall to where Dr Banner was meant to be doing an examination of Loki. Bruce had said that he was a human doctor and specifically not a doctor for the gods, but he also said he would do his best. Tony saw banner instantly, leaning to the side of his door. His face in his hands like he was trying to keep his composure. Tony quicken his pace. He had never been too high on life, but when Bruce Banner had his head in his hands everything seemed to have a drop.

"Hey, big guy. What's up?" He tried to sound light hearted and somehow managed to pull it off. He should of gone into acting. Bruce's hands retreated, revealing his weathered face. He always looked so hopeful. At this point he just looked... kind of... tired.

"Jesus, Tony" Bruce rolled his neck back as if it was all too much for him and his fragile state of mind. "You have to see this" he tugged Tony into the med lab. Holding his sleeve Bruce and Tony stood staring, for how long they didn't know. Tony stared in surprise and perhaps horror, Bruce stared in grudging, saddened acceptance. They looked in awe at the jagged lines coving his pale skin. His back was a patchwork of long slightly faded lines, the places where he had been thrashed relentlessly. His chest where hot pokers had forced themselves upon his dainty skin. The arm that covered his eyes had a burn running around it, where acid had been poured onto the flesh. He was horrid and scary. He was scary because he was meant to be broken. The most dangerous people in the world were the people that know they can survive.

"He's covered in scars" Tony stated quietly. His eyes never strayed from the scars, he couldn't. They both realised that if Loki was to awaken from his slumber he'd probably kill them both, but they couldn't draw they're eyes away from the horrid and concerning sight.

"Yes, he is" answered Bruce, his glasses beginning to slip down his nose.

"How long ago?"

"The most recent ones seem to be at least a year and a bit old"

"So... right before the Chitari attack?"

"Yeah"

"This changes things"

"Yeah, it does" for the next few minutes Bruce paused, before giving a deep sigh and opening his mouth. He spoke very sadly of what Loki had told him, about his family and his five years in hell, about the tortures and the chains and the darkness. He reasoned that he and Loki had a lot in common. Misunderstood, largely broken, incapable of reacting appropriately in social situations. They're pretended like nobody else was able to, because they had the most to escape from. They were still frantically struggling to avoid their inevitable fate.

"What do we do? Do we tell Thor?" Bruce chuckled at his question.

"Are you kidding? He would probably start an intergalactic war by himself. We tell him and we'll essentially be providing him with a reason to get himself killed on a silver platter" Tony nodded.

"We don't speak of this"

"Agreed"

And then they walked away, calm and grumpy. Neither of them liked the situation, but they were both willing tolerate it, for Thor's sake.

"It's curler than I thought it was" Tony mused as they moved down the corridor, towards the mess hall where they both hoped to get some lunch and met with the others. Usually they would have their lunches sent up to their labs so that they could work while they ate, but that morning Natasha had expressed an interest in talking with them. A rare interest indeed.

"Huh?" Bruce looked at him, confused.

"You know, his hair. I always thought it looked like an angry Christmas tree, but its actually curly. Like, ringlets curly" Tony emphasised. In truth he was trying to distract himself, from... from how angry he had been at Loki when he had only been trying to protect his family. When he thought about it, he probably would of done the same thing.

Bruce chuckled at his small joke.

"It is curly, isn't it?" He replied, his hands in the pockets on his trousers.

"Thor told me he usually combs it or puts it up. Those Norse gods and their beauty needs" they continued to chat about whether Asgardians had nail salons until they reached the mess hall where the rest of the "essentially humans only on metaphorical steroids with a shit load of martial arts training, plus the god guy that usually wore a cape" were sitting. Tony had somehow managed to get Pepper to agree to giving their little team their very own special table, right in the middle of all the others. The workers of Stark Tower milled about, getting their own lunch. They all seemed to be avoiding the middle table, floating around it distinctly. None of the people sitting and seating themselves at the table were offended by it. They were pretty scared of them too. Well, considering Natasha was freaking scary and was always carrying a weapon, Clint wasn't even sitting at the table, but really hovering above it on a swing, Tony was seriously insane to the point where he just couldn't be fucked to hide it, Bruce could turn into a large, green rage monster likely to rip your head off, Steve was a socially awkward 95-year-old virgin who was hanging out with people half his age and Thor was an intergalactic being who had no idea what person space meant. Needless to say, they weren't exactly too approachable.

It turned out that Natasha wanted to talk to the two geniuses about something that was in neither of their fields of science. Apparently the Russian SHEILD branch had discovered some ancient scrolls. Neither Tony nor Bruce worked with scrolls, but considering they were already getting sent over they agreed to have a look at a few old bits of parchment.

They stuck around the mess hall for quite a while, just hanging out and talking. At some point Loki had stumbled in, dressed once again and his more obvious scars covered by what little magic he was clinging to in his fevered state. Tony and Thor had scooted apart on the bench for him and he had slid slenderly in between them. His only greeting was a quick, curt nod to Clint. It was less of a gesture of a respect, but more like he was just silently saying "so thanks for not attacking me this time, because I'm really bloody tired and that would of been a total hassle" in the space of a nod. Clint had nodded in return in a "yeah, no problem dude. We can postpone our wrestling match until your feeling better" sort of way. Loki had sat across from Natasha. For a little while she said nothing, keeping her quiet distrust of his lack of memories to herself. During this time Loki decided that he would resume his morning activities. He gently rested his head on Thor's shoulder, his hands jammed between his thighs and let his breathing deepen, knowing that he was perfectly safe. Oh course, Natasha was unwilling to let him sleep as yet.

"Do you know how much red I have in my ledger?" She asked, her voice just low enough that only Loki and she could hear. Thor was having a conversation with the others about how confusing he found this century and wasn't paying enough attention to notice the awfully threat-like question directed at his friend. Loki opened one eyes and slid it towards her, raising his head slightly to look at her. He blinked once before re-resting his head on Thor's shoulder.

"I neither know nor care" he croaked stubbornly. "Good luck though"

"What do you men 'good luck'" he could practically hear her brow furrowing.

"I mean I am wishing you good luck in clearing your ledger. You wouldn't be here if that wasn't your inevitable aim"

author's notes:

i am awesomely addicted to this story, I'm just digging it beyond belief. I'm really sorry about the whole "so he got tortured for five years" thing, I felt really bad after doing that but heck, it's really necessary.

Much love,

Clementine


	7. Scared of the pimply teenager

Thor sat slumped in his desk, snoring happily. It was mid afternoon and he was essentially just killing time until he got to go home and make Loki order pizza for ten, because the person at the pizza store unnerved him. At least he called it unnerved, Loki called it "Scared if the pimply teenager". He didn't like that much.

His boss, usually, called for the type of productivity that mostly involved paper work, but sometimes he could get away with doing nothing for at least a few hours. His father had ordered him to be nice to the mortals so that would be the plan. To make his afternoon even more enjoyable he was having the most wonderful dream. It was of him and Loki… when they were… little, wee children. He dreamt of a smaller, frailer version of Loki. One that, like the larger one, Thor dreamt of with his nose buried in a book, his mother, Thor's mother, peering over his shoulder pointing and laughing, teaching. He dreamt of being fooled by the pranks he often fell prey to anyway, sneaking around the walls of his home looking to make a mess with Loki. Like they were… brothers. But then he dreamt of being with people. Of Loki being blatantly ignored by his father and Balder. Of the horrid favouritism that Odin never forced upon his golden son. He awoke when he heard his name, jolting awake from his already skimming sleep. He quickly dismissed the dream, he had known Loki for only a little more than a month, they shared no childhood of his. He made a mental note to ask Loki where he had grown up. Curiosity burned suddenly, but he dismissed this as well.

He looked up with a yawn, rubbing his eyes, to see the captain standing at the door. He looked so calm standing there. He quite liked The Captain they were similar as they didn't know what on earth was going on in that modern era.

"Thor, we need your help" The Captain smiled at him and he smiled tiredly back. The previous week had been spent mostly getting Loki back to health. The black haired man would often awaken during the night with feverish nightmares. Nightmares of things he never told Thor about. Sure, Thor would ask late at night when his friend awoke panicked and screaming, but Loki would on shake his head and try to clean himself up. During the night Thor would look after Loki, he would get him water and mope his brow with a wet towel. He would force himself to rise from his own slumber when the man beside him began to wail. But then Loki would redeem himself during the day, he would cook the most heavenly meals, he would clean, he would await Thor's return and welcome him back. The past few night he would leave, he would go back to his own apartment, the one Thor had never seen, then he would occasionally show up during the day and either demand food or make it himself. It was normal, Loki's appearances and disappearances. Thor had gotten used to having scrolls dominating his coffee table and finding Loki's glasses in the oddest places. Making food for two and always expecting company for when Loki decided that he wanted to make an appearance. Sometimes Loki would be asked come into work with Thor so that he could work with The Man of Iron and the big, angry, green one. Thor was surprised that The Man of Iron ad neglected to let Fury know of Loki and his expansive knowledge of everything todo with the nine realms and Thor was… glad. He had no doubt that Fury would of tried to incorporate Loki's knowledge and, to put it frankly, that sounded horrid. He didn't want Loki getting involved in his work, it was too complicated, plus Loki seemed to be doing his own thing.

He lent his cheek on his palm and looked at him with dazed eyes.

"With What?" He asked, bordering of asleep once again. The Captain smiled at him.

"Tony and Banner need some help with some Asgardian stuff that Natasha had sent over from Russia" The Captain was holding the door open staring at him with a small smile. Thor shrugged almost to himself. He could deal with helping them out look at some artefacts. No big deal. He nodded and they began to walk down the numerous corridors of Stark tower slowly and silently. Thor with his hands in his pockets and The Captain with his hands behind his head. They were quite the pair, as were the rest of them. Tony had designed this building to house the best, the most glamorous and the most superficial and, yet, he had shoved the mist casual, shamboligic people in the whole wide world into it. A time traveling super solider, an alien Viking, a Russian spy, a hawk and a mentally unstable genius. Tony wasn't exactly asking for you're average billionaire residence.

They came to the door of Tony and Dr Banner's combined labs, and they looked in, their shoulders too broad to both stand in the doorway. The Man of Iron and the big, green, angry one were hunched over one of the workbenches, staring at old pieces of parchment. They looked like they had come in contact with a puzzle that they should of been able to figure out, but couldn't. It angered them, he could see.

"You said you needed me" Thor knocked on the metal doorframe and they both looked up. Natasha was sitting on one of the stools in the corner, obviously waiting for something interesting to happen. Unlike Tony, Thor, Bruce and Steve she and Clint still went on missions for Sheild, while the other stayed home and put up with being looked at like ticking time bombs.

Both of the geniuses looked up from the scrolls, Tony grinned at him, but Dr Banner only smiled.

"Thor! Help us! We have no idea what we're doing!" He yelled out opening his arms, like he was celebrating his inability to understand what was in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Both he and the captain entered the room. Thor immediately approached the desk, curiosity making his movements for him. He peered over at the parchment, smiling slightly, but letting it slip away in concentration.

"Look I know a little Asgardian, but this doesn't mark any sense, not even vaguely" Bruce looked at him, his face full of hope for the information he craved. Thor frowned, gently tracing his the lines on the parchment. It was rough under his rough fingers, but after this long essentially living with Loki he was used to they feeling. Confusion washed over him, this wasn't right and he understood why Bruce and Tony were so stubbornly trying to figure it out. He could tell just from a glance that they wouldn't.

"Can you read it?" Toy asked eagerly. The first scroll seemed to beside sort of map though of where, he couldn't tell.

"No" he was shaking his head. He wasn't very studious, not even close actually, but he was curious. This was interesting. "This isn't Asgardian, but its written in Asgardian characters, like the mortal Chinese" Tony was nodding so he continued. "I have no idea what it means, nor what language it speaks in, but I do believe that this map belongs to no land among the nine realms" he stood back from the paper, eyeing it suspiciously.

"Well, the language is not of earth. I had it scanned, it would of picked it up if it was a known language" Dr Banner frowned and scratched his stubbled chin in a thoughtful manner.

"But you say that the characters are Asgardian? Maybe it was a collaboration with the Asgardians and another race" The Man of Iron reasoned unhelpfully. Thor had a guess that he was really just taking stabs at the dark.

"I will call Loki" he began to take his phone out of his pocket, but was stopped by The Man of Iron's frank question:

"Why?"

Thor blinked at him, realising after a second that not everyone knew that scrolls were all Loki did, ever.

"Loki has a lot of experience with ancient scrolls, he also knows a lot of languages. I suspect he will be able to help" it was true, Loki knew more languages than he could count on his fingers. Most of the mortal languages, Ancient Asgardian, Dwarfish, the languages of the frost giants, Draginion, Farie, they went on. Thor had once asked him how he knew all these languages and Loki had replied that he needed to know them for his job. Which lead had to the conversation involving Loki's source of income.

"So you are a merchant" Thor had tried to clarify and Loki had nodded.

"Yes, of sorts"

"Right"

The conversation had ended there. That's still hadn't explained what all the damn scrolls were for.

Thor pressed the phone to his ear and wandered away from the table, placing his hand on his hip to steady himself. After a few rings Loki finally picked up, considering Loki's sleep cycle he had probably been awoken by his phone.

"Hello Loki" Thor boomed happily, unaware or perhaps uncaring that his conversation was being listened to by an over zealous billionaire. The phone on the other end was tapped two times.

"Are you speaking today?" His voice nervous. Somedays Loki just wouldn't talk at all, like the day that they had met, he would communicate solely through his little black notebook. It happened once or twice a week, consistently. It wasn't in order and was largely unpredictable, but he lived with it, as did Loki.

_One tap. No. _

"Do you think you would mind coming in to work? The Man of Iron and the doctor have discovered some Asgardian scrolls that we have found ourselves unable to decipher, and your assistance is needed" Thor stared at the wall, thinking carefully.

_Two taps. Yes, I would mind. _

"Is there anything that I can do to convince you?" He hadn't expected anything less. After meeting Loki his bargaining skills had skyrocketed, he could now haggle much better than most.

_Two taps. Yes._

"Well, you can text me what you want and I'll come and pick you up.

_Three taps. You're an idiot._

Five seconds later he got a text with descriptions of chocolate, ice cream and varing amounts of lollies. Thor turned, shoving his phone back into his pocket with a smile at Loki's childishness. He was met with four different pairs of eyes, staring at him, one of them looked somewhat eager and the others simply cautious.

"Sooooo, we can take it he's coming?" The Man of Iron prompted, his eyes were the eager ones, like he was on a mission to devour all gossip available. Thor nodded, not sensing the unease in the room. Tony turned around to the black widow who had not as yet gotten off her stool. She was glaring at Thor who also failed to notice this. "Tasha, you wanna go bug Fury for a bit?" Everyone in the room could tell it wasn't a request.

"No, but I get the feeling I don't have choice" she remarked dryly as she tentatively got off the stool, her feet making no sound where they landed. Tony smiled brightly at her.

"No choice to speak off, run along" he made little gestures with his hands like he was ushering a mere child as she stomped out of the room.

"Come on, Sparkles" her voice was a growl as she started dragging The Captain by the hood of his jacket, wishing to have company if she was going to have to keep Fury away from Loki. It was quite obvious that Fury would immediately blow everyone's cover if he and Loki were to come face to face. He'd probably start yelling profanities as well.

"Why must she go see the angry pirate?" Thor inquired as he patted the pockets of his jeans for his car keys. Tony turned to him with a knowing smile.

"Well, this is a restricted area you know. We don't want Fury messing around with a research operation" again Tony was talking to everyone as though they were children. Thor frowned at that, he was over one thousand years older than him and everyone he knew.

"Very well, I will go get Loki and I will see you soon" Thor waved slightly as he exited the room. He realised that Loki was perfectly capable of getting himself to wherever he wanted to be in the blink of an eye, but Thor reasoned, in a brief bout of intelligence, that if he went to go pick up Loki he had a chance of seeing his apartment. He had never been officially not invited in to Loki's apartment, it had just never come up, but he was naturally curious about what someone like Loki would keep in his most personal space.

He drove quickly, perhaps a little too quickly, picked up his bargaining chips(Loki's food) from the supermarket and then on to the underground car park of their apartment building. He road the elevator to Loki's floor, that was right below his own and headed purposefully towards Loki's door. He still remembered it from walking Loki back from their first surprising encounter.

He knocked first, of course he did, he was polite at least, but he received no answer. He knew that Loki was in there, he was just busy, Loki wouldn't of passed up the chance for free food, the actual work wouldn't be too bad either. It was just translating some scrolls. Thor opened the door slightly, after finding it unlocked, it worried him that Loki left his door unlocked, but then again he would like to meet the cat burglar that broke into the god of mischief's apartment. Loki's place was set out much the same as his own. The sofa was in a different place and Loki had the dining table in between the kitchen and the living room, but it was mostly the same. It was dark, but considering that Loki must of only just gotten up that wasn't that surprising. The cat that Loki brought home was snoozing on the couch and Thor bent to scratch her head before moving on. The apartment resembled Dr Banner's desk. Paper flitted around, covering almost everything, some collecting dust, others obviously pawed over frequently. Some of the papers were tacked to the walls, mindless scribbles, equation, graphs, some written on napkins, others on the ripped out pages of notebooks. There were even more scrolls here than at his own apartment, they dominated the dining table making it impossible to eat there. There were piles of book as high as the celling all along the walls, in languages from Ancient Latin to the complicated grunts of the dwarfish language.

"Wow" Thor muttered to himself as he looked around. He considered calling out to Loki, but he doubted it would of done any good. Loki wouldn't of replied anyway. Instead he just poked his head into each of the rooms. The bathroom, still steamy from a shower. The study, that looked like a tornado had swept through. The kitchen, obviously long abandoned for it's proper use. And the bedroom… the bedroom was beautiful. Then again that might of been because it contained someone beautiful who happened to be clothed in only a towel. Thor had only opened the door a little way, but Loki was pretty obvious to be seen. He had been setting out clothes on the bed, looking radiant, his hair curly and wet from his shower, his skin smooth and glowing. Oh lord, he had just referred to a man as radiant. What was wrong with him? Did he have brain damage? Was this the side effect of some sort of horrific mortal illness? He lent against the wall next to the bed room, mind still filled with pictures of a beautiful man who was three quarters naked. Or was he really, plainly and simply, attracted to another man? He hoped it wasn't that. That would just be weird. He was disgusted with himself.

When Loki came back out of his room, fully clothed mind you, his look said it all:

_Knock next time, you absolute imbecile. _

Thor nodded, accepting his fate as best he could, holding out the plastic bag and having it ripped out of his palm with a glare. He was sure at this point that his cheeks could heat a tavern fire. Loki began to stomp down the hall, obviously embarrassed. He kept tugging at his sleeves, almost nervously, he had never before seen Loki… nervous. It was a strange sight and Thor immediately felt bad.

He came up behind Loki and thwacked him on the back with what was mean tot be a friendly pat. Loki spluttered and glared at him. Thor smiled with strategical obliviousness.

"Come on, lets go"

Loki grabbed his notebook from the kitchen counter and a pen from beside the phone. He essentially growled all the way to the tower, pouting in the passenger seat and chewing mindlessly through three blocks of chocolate. He seems to be half way between starving and not wanting to eat. He was so endlessly confusing.

* * *

Loki stood with Bruce and Tony and they were staring at him, desperate for the same knowledge he was, thus the life of a genius. Always searching for something more to conquer. He would loath the day when he knew everything. He set down the scroll and scribbled a note in his notebook.

_Thor was right, it is written in Asgardian letters, but not in actual Asgardian._

He didn't look at them, he just let his eyes dart over the old parchment. He had demanded as soon as he had entered that everyone who was planning on touching the scrolls wore gloves. What idiots would touch pieces of four thousand year old parchment with bare fingers?

"Yeah, but what language it is in?" Loki seemed to darken at the question, narrowing his eyes at the parchment and not looking up. Bruce handed him the notebook and Loki took it gently from him. He liked Dr Banner. He didn't know why, but he just found the his quiet company pleasant.

He scribbled a note and handed in back to the doctor.

_Chitarian_.

Bruce sucked in a breath and he handed it to Tony who's eyebrows scrunched together, looking almost angry.

"Sorry Loki" Bruce said quietly, Loki only nodded in response.

"What is it?" Tony wasn't trying to hassle the dark haired man, it wasn't that he was eager to know what was on the scrolls. He was just trying to move on from the topic of Loki's five year hell hole. Loki scribbled another note with a slightly lighter expression.

_Its a map. Not of a place in this plane of existence, like a digital universe for the stone age. _

"What the heck does that mean? Is it like a video game?" Tony was leaning forward, his previous caution obliterated into a haze of curiosity. Another note was pushed towards them.

_Exactly, its a game and these markings here_

He pointed to the little figures around the map.

_represent the players. _

He point to the little figure of shield, like a coat of arms. A crown crossed with a lightening bolt.

_This represents Thor, each of us have one too. Everyone of us. _

"What do you mean? This is thousands of years older than we are, why are we here?" Bruce rubbed his forehead and Loki looked at him through his glasses. Graveness was in his green eyes.

_We are there because this is a scroll that has the same magic as I do. It is an illusion. The reason that we are present there is because we are necessary to play the game. The reason that it is written in Chitarian is to draw me in. The reason it was in Russia was to get the black widow drawn to it and give it to you. You are all here because you are the only people that can play the game. That's how a prophecy works. _


	8. Haha, fooled you

Okay, so this isn't a new chapter I admit and usually when I give an interval chapter it's usually because I've cocked something up and need help with the story. Thankfully, this hasn't happened. Instead I just have one hell of a guilty conscious so to make it up to all my loyal followers I present to you a story that isn't quite the one you were meant to have, but it is cute nonetheless.

I present to you: The pleasure of people

It's just on its first chapter and its about the cuteness of superfamily! If you haven't heard of this notion I happily will give you a full fledged introduction to the amazingness of it. :) even if you don't ship stony you will adore this, because, seriously, the adorableness is overwhelming. I would really appreciate it if you check it out and gave me some reviews (good or bad)! Thank you for putting up with my floundering!

Much love,

Clementine


	9. Private and intimate moments

Thor was careful, he was always careful, at least with people he was. He made sure to make his fingers light, because his strength was a little too much. He tried greatly not rouse Loki from a sleep if he could help it. He was nice like that. He laid his jacket over the black haired man's shoulders when he fell asleep at The Man of Iron's workshop bench, his cheek resting lightly against scrolls. He had heard Tony mutter something like "I can't tell whether it's creepy or adorable". To this he had heard Dr Banner softly reply "It's adorable." He hadn't known weather to smile or to frown in confusion. He figured he might as well smile.

Loki still hadn't properly explained what on earth the scrolls were on about, he had fallen asleep half way through his translations. Tony, being the idiot that he was, had tried very valiantly to awaken the mentally unstable Norse god of mischief and he had been promptly turned into an ostrich. He had been turned back fifteen minutes later, naked and squeaking. Loki had began to snore.

Tony and Bruce opted to simply examining the map and taking guesses at which coats of arms belonged to who. They had only found Thor, Hawkeye and Fury so far. Each shield looked as though it had been made and drawn just for them, the colours of their personalities sown into its creation, faded and dulled with time. Each shield was placed around the edges of the parchment like a border, equally spaced apart. There were twenty two in total, each unique in shape and colour and design. If what Loki said was true then it was an illusion, it wasn't really there, they just thought it was. Both the scientists had to admit, it made sense. It was also convenient. Loki also said that it was a map of a non-physical playing ground, and they were the players, though while their opponents were able to assumed were neither certain nor clarified. All that was certain was that they were playing and the out come was probably less than fun... probably.

"Hey, what if Loki isn't on our team?" Tony looked up at the sound of Bruce's hushed words.

"Huh? What do you mean?" As always when faced with social rather than technical science Tony was hopeless. He completely missed the obvious kinks in the idea of this game. Bruce puffed out his cheeks in annoyance and averted his gaze to avoid glaring.

"I mean that Loki doesn't exactly have a good track record with being on our side when facing the Chitari. We both know that he had some... rough persuasion last time, but he is kind of evil" Tony stared at him, eyes widening slightly. Then he laughed bitterly to himself, throwing his hands up in that air and shaking his head as if it was only one more thing to add to the pile.

"Well... Fuck"

* * *

When he awoke again his mouth tasted like Midgardian beer and his brain smelt like cheese crackers and dirty laundry. It wasn't like a hangover, more appropriately it felt like waking up after a sex dream, all daft and dazed. His mind was slowly gliding down from the high rafters of sleep, his muscles slowly tensing and untensing, regaining movement and energy. He saw thin, tiny veins of emerald magic run in pulses across the back of his eyelids and he knew that waking up was now necessary, if not needed.

He could smell something like coffee in the air, coffee and… apple shampoo. His arms were draped over something lumpy and squishy and soft. It was surprisingly comfortable. Without opening his eyes he knew he was still sitting on that insufferable little stool of Tony Stark's, but he was no longer lying on the cold metal of the workbench, but instead the warmth of another living being. He groaned. Eyes blinking open, grogginess still clouding his common sense. His nose was buried in the nape of Thor's neck. He knew it was Thor's because his nose was also buried in strings of golden hair which explained the apple shampoo smell. He vaguely remembered waking up with Thor's jacket on his shoulders and doing a few more translations in his note book while Bruce offered assistance, occasionally went to get more tea and argued with The Man of Iron. The productivity level of scientists was constantly astounding him.

Loki closed his eyes briefly, embracing a deep breath and releasing it, both movements slow and methodical. It took a few good minutes for him to awaken properly, long enough for his brain coo itself back into some intelligent manner of speaking. It was like charming a small child to play with you, only harder.

"Bastard" he didn't know who he was calling a bastard, it just felt good to say so.

"Me?" Thor grunted questioningly from beneath him.

"No. Universe" Loki answered, burying his nose further into warm skin and golden locks.

"Yeah" he felt Thor sigh and Loki sat up, exhaustion lining his features. He kept his flat on Thor's back as if to subconsciously reassure himself that he wouldn't let the larger man disappear. He didn't even realise it himself, but Thor was comforted by the soft pressure.

"Glad y'er back ta talkin'" he slurred sleepily, as Loki began to tap rhythms on his back with his slender fingers, even with his shirt between them it felt nice.

"I always come back" Loki answered, not missing a beat. He still sounded tired, but at least he didn't sound from some Norse farmer from the fourteen hundreds like Thor did.

"Hmm" he only got a hum in response. Loki smiled, his heartbeat a heavy thud in his chest, like the rolling of huge waves. If Loki thought that it took a while for himself to awaken properly, then it took Thor even longer. While he waited, he scribbled notes in his notebook, reasserting himself with the scrolls he had partially forgotten due to sleep and drew patterns on Thor's scalp, probably with malice.

At some point Dr Banner awoke from his bed atop on of the less cluttered workbenches, nobody remembered how he had gotten there and Bruce himself couldn't remember going to sleep. He stumbled over to where Loki sat, calmly translating, decoding and lulling Thor further in to sleep, even if he wasn't doing it on purpose. Loki's glasses were sitting on his nose, one hand moving quietly through Thor's hair, the other scribbling notes, eyes half open, mind half there. Bruce surprised himself by not being surprised. It was like he had simply gotten used to Loki not being broken anymore, not unbroken, remade or made anew either. He was unstable, he had been hurt, scarred, had opinions smashed into him like walls of oppression, but he couldn't be evil anymore. You can't be evil if you can't remember the key ingredient to the recipe of your evilness.

Loki didn't notice him watching him quietly until he was right next to the workbench. The god looked up, he smiled at Bruce and Bruce found himself smiling back. He had expected more of a fight than this, from the other guy. Considering their last meeting, he would of figured that the other guy would of put up more of a fight. Yet, he only gave the occasional growl. His smile broadened.

"Good morning, Dr Banner" Loki said, obviously unafraid of waking the slumbering man to hid left.

"Bruce" Bruce corrected, not really trying and sat down on the stool next to Loki, his own note book still sitting abandoned next to Loki's elbow. He had long given up trying to help Loki with the translating, he wasn't too adept in earth languages anyway, let alone intergalactic ones.

"How did you sleep, Dr?" He accepted dazedly that he was being mocked and calmly began to sketch in the back of his notebook for no particular reason. He didn't question, Loki's sudden break from the world of oral communication, the man had been tortured beyond anything Midgard had ever seen, the effects were bound to show. Loki was a sad being, formed entirely by the gaps in his memory and the moments of pain that Odin had convinced himself he had no control over.

"Fine, as fine as you can on hard steel" Bruce grumbled and Loki smiled down at his work.

"Please, Dr Banner, you don't need to tell me of you and Tony Stark's intimate and private moments" he chuckled at his own joke, as did Thor, who still had his eyes peacefully shut. Bruce immediately hit Loki upside the head, not waiting for hesitation.

"Shut up, Little Miss Stroking-My-Not-Boyfriend's-Hair-While-He-Preatends-To-Be-Asleep-So-You-Won't-Stop" Dr Banner bit back, his shell not cracking in the slightest. Loki's hand immediately jerked back from Thor's hair, a light, very cute, blush dancing playfully across his cheeks. He stared at Bruce in horror. Thor, on the had, shot violently into non-groggy consciousness. Where Loki was simply cutely blushing pink Thor was a roaring and bloody shade of red, alarmingly like his cape.

"H-Healer Banner" he stuttered. "You... you are surely m-mistaken. For Loki is man, his is not capable of having a "boyfriend". And most definitely not me" he looked equally horrified, confused and embarrassed at the same time. Loki was almost amused enough to forget that he was too, tremendously embarrassed. Obviously, nobody had ever explained that the Midgardian mating rituals and preferences were a little more diverse than Asgardian ideas of courtship to Thor. Loki was pinching the bridge of his nose, holding his glasses in his hand, giggling freely. Bruce was also smiling, his cheek resting against his cheek, his somewhat darker green eyes sparkling.

Suddenly Tony stood up from where they had all failed to notice he was sleeping on the floor. He clapped his hand on the Asgardian's back, smiling a little dazedly and swaying in a barely noticeable way.

"Pointbreak! Dude, I forgot, you're an alien, don't worry about it, man. All will be revealed. Come with me" Tony Stark gently tugged Thor off his stool and out of the room, Thor still looking confused. The last time he had checked the Midgardians had been sentencing men to death for lying with another man. Then again, the last time he had checked was around seven hundred years ago, so maybe there had been a development in their mating system. Loki shook his head as the man he no longer remembered was his brother was more or less dragged out of the room and returned to his translations. For a few moments he and the doctor were silent, gifting the room a second to catch its breath.

"Would you mind elaborating a little more on what you explained last night? I'm really struggling to understand" Loki had the feeling that Bruce really wasn't enjoying expressing his lack of knowledge at the matter at hand and he was tempted to mock him for it, but he decided against it. Something in the back of his mind told him that pissing this man off had not worked out for the best last time, though he could be sure when 'last time' was.

"Of course, its a game"

Bruce glared at him.

"That's what you said last time, but I need more elaboration still" Loki sighed dramatically and moved one of the scrolls so that they were back onto the map, with the emblems around the edges.

"As I explained last night these represent us and our players. We do not know yet who are our opponents, but I have an inching suspicion it will be revealed. The game wasn't made by the Chitari, they aren't clever enough for this, I believe it's elvish. The elves use this form of duelling to settle political feuds and even wars, therefore the Chitari are probably as clueless as we" he paused to see if Bruce was following which he was, so he continued. "This game was most definitely made for the point of the final battle. More than likely the nine realms want the political tensions between Midgard and Chitari territory broken more than they want the Chitari to be contained. They know that if they let another invasion break out or if any more Midgardian deaths occur they'll be breaching the intergalactic law so they must of had the elves fashion a game where collateral damage is minimal" Loki seemed to hesitate. "Each person in the nine realms has their own representation of self perception, and it is generally passed down through family with few and mostly subtle alterations. I would suspect given your... experiences in life that it would of changed phenomenally from your father to you. You can see here that" he pointed to Thor's shield "Thor's emblem bears Odin's sign, thus giving him his true heritage. While me, as a Johtun, bear the sign of... Jotunheim" he sighed and slid Bruce a glance. It was a very specific glance, with a very specific message. "I am trusting you with this and you will not tell Thor" it said hotly. Bruce nodded. "The emblems are not important during the game, as you will not see them, but what is important is out positions. In your average pack of cards there is a king, a queen, a jack, an ace and a joker as the power cards. In the ancient pack of cards there were only two suits, diamonds and spades, two jacks and kings in each, no queens and someone called a Kańo which means Commander in Elvish" he paused again, thinking carefully about what to say next. "I can't tell our positions, not that much is translatable, due to someone helpfully erasing all the important stuff, but I know that we'll be able to find out once the game begins"

"And what will happen when the game starts? Will we get teleported to this magical land of yours or something?" Loki could tell the Dr Banner was trying hard to understand and he nodded vaguely to himself, knowing his query.

"As far as I know elvish methods such as this use a technique called Stenaf which means that all the players see themselves in a world that isn't physically there. Considering that this is a fighting game we should probably go somewhere secluded for its duration, or else we'll destroy half of here and be diagnosed with group insanity. Think of it as a holiday where you have a high chance of dying" while Bruce seemed a little more than disconcerted with the current state of affairs he seemed to of followed the explanation go the best of his abilities. He didn't ask what was at stake if they lost and Loki was glad. He wasn't particularly interests in explaining that if they didn't win then this world would perish and everything would just suck. That didn't sound like fun. Bruce nodded with a poorly placed yawn.

"Seems simple enough" he muttered, almost to himself.

"Well, elves are known for their simplicity" Loki answered mildly as they began to here clangs coming from the general direction of the kitchen.

Bruce nodded dazedly, before looking confused.

"Yeah... Wait, no. Not hey aren't. I'm pretty sure their only know for their intricacy "

"I'm pretty sure were talking about two different groups of elves"

"What's the difference?"

"Mine are complete bastards"

Author's notes:

Praise The Lord, I finally got this done. I have never in my entire life been happier to submit a chapter. So happy right now. Thank you for being patient.

Much, much love,

Clementine


	10. Two strategists and a mother hen

"So a man and a man can...?" Thor shifted his feet awkwardly and poked his two pointer finger together, looking to Tony meaningfully.

"That's right, Pointbreak, my man. Two dudes can do the do if they want to just like a dude and a dudette can" Tony was grinning, watching Thor's face twist in horror and barely suppressed curiosity for the past half hour was pretty entertaining for him.

He continued mixing the batter, completely missing the fact that most of it was either on the floor, him or the celling. He had been getting increasingly exasperated instructions from Jarvis on the creation of pancakes, but not much following of said instructions had really worked out.

"But how can a man and a man have children many? Can they be bonded by marriage?" Thor was obviously trying hard to understand and Tony smiled. He was taking a little too much enjoyment in corrupting Thor's frail mind.

"Well, that's what adoption is for an you can get married in some places, not here though" Thor looked a little disenhearted for a second. "By you can also be metaphorically married, like me and Jarvis" Thor looked a little more bright at that. He was obviously barely concealing his eagerness to learn more about the topic.

"Sir, we are not married" Jarvis said firmly from the celling.

"Yes we are, your just in denial" Thor probably would of heard Jarvis growl had he my been so deep in thought. They had a similar tradition in Asgard. Men taking men to be there wives whether it be love, political or financial necessity. Sometimes women would take women as well, it just wasn't thought of as any different in Asgard.

Tony had began arguing with Jarvis on the legality and not-fabrication of their marriage. It got to the point where a tall icy blond man with piercing blue eyes walked in and continued the argument. This seemed to delight The Man of Iron and he squealed something like "I knew that you would use the body I made you eventually!". To be honest Thor wasn't really paying attention, but when Tony referred to the man as Jarvis Thor decided to simply accept it as Midgardian magic. At some point Loki had appeared beside him and promptly fall asleep, his arm threaded through Thor's, his head resting on the larger man's bicep. The healer Banner also came in and subsequently took over the making pancakes while the argument continued in the background.

Well, it wasn't quite an argument anymore, it was more like Jarvis' manic attempt to pry Tony off his abdomen while shouting. No one was really paying any attention.

Eventually Bruce finished with the pancakes and Thor roused Loki from his sleep, much to his own personal reluctance. He barely realised it himself, but he thought that Loki sleeping was one of the great wonders of the nine realms.

They sat around the dining table that Bruce doubted had ever been used. Jarvis sat with them or, more accurately, he was tied to a chair with thick ropes and making polite conversation with Loki.

The pancakes were far better than what any of them thought Tony would of been able to make and they were all very verbal about it, especially Jarvis who was looking very smug while Loki occasionally spared him a few pieces of pancake, because as he described it, he was charitable.

Half way through breakfast an arrow was shot through a plate of pancakes and another guest was added to their table, though he was a little glarey and a little growly. Not only in the direction of Loki, but just humanity and aliens in general. He was also of course dangling for the celling and roughly stuffing food in his mouth. Considering that Tony was currently clinging to Jarvis' middle Loki fed them both tidbits off his own plate as if they were children Bruce was the only one that looked even vaguely civil. Loki had obviously decided that both Jarvis and Tony were completely incapable of looking after themselves and had taken it upon himself to make sure they were fed, married or otherwise. To complete the picture of Loki playing mother hen Thor had decided to sit obnoxiously close to his black haired haired counterpart. Now that he knew that if he wanted to sit close to another man that wouldn't be discriminated against it made him feel just a little bit better about doing as he wished. And then there was Bruce who seemed to be just one of more friendly in laws to the seeming play family. If you think about this picture of hopeless fun, the god of mischief and mayhem feeding pancake to a tall pale man tied to a chair with his master clinging to his abdomen whining about some sort of marriage while the god of thunder unconsciously slipped his arm tightly around the black hair man's shoulders while talking mildly with the hulk who was watching one of Sheild's finest assassins dangle from the celling by a rope out of the corner of his eye, you really can't be surprised that Director Fury stopped mid rant at the sight of the dining room. He stared, one eyed at them, his eye scraping from Bruce to Thor and then to Loki and then no more. Loki let his hand return to his plate, his wrist resting lightly on the rim, Tony still looking hopefully at the piece of pancake stuck to his fork. Perhaps it was the way that Bruce gripped the tablecloth or the way that the eye of hawk was too nonchalant, but Thor suddenly wanted his hammer. He held a little tighter onto Loki, who smiled pleasantly.

"Director Fury, I presume. I don't believe we've met. I am Loki Laufeyson" he offer his hand over the back of his chair, believing with a small amount of certainty that this was how the Midgardians greeted one another. Tony looked ready to leap across the table when Fury took Loki's hand. It seemed that the black haired man was the only person not to feel the tension. Or perhaps he was simply strategically ignoring it for his own purposes. Fury slowly took the slender man's hand and they let a quick shake come to pass. Obviously Fury was remembering the shifty nature of his crew of the past few days, though he failed to growl. Instead they were both being suspiciously civil. "I believe we have a lot to talk about" Loki was still smiling politely and Fury had not yet started to threaten anyone, and everything just felt… off.

"Yeah, I heard you got called in to translate to scrolls Natasha brought back from Russia-land. I owe you a favour. Would you like to come into my office to discuss further matters" like most of his other ventures into the english language Fury never really requested anything of anybody, he simply demanded and you could either do as he said with dignity or you could fight teeth and claw and lose said dignity. Loki smiled again and everyone held their breath.

"That would be most adequate, thank you for the offer" as always Loki was nothing if not graceful. He removed himself from the ever disorganised dining room table like he didn't have to unlatch the god of thunder and glorious hair from his shoulder. He gestured in a friendly manner to the door. "Shall we go?" Fury nodded, his face never moving from its ever stony state, and, yet, there was Loki, being overly polite like his own scowl was usually a permanent feature on his face. They left the room, Loki following Fury. And thus, out went two of the most brilliant strategists the world had ever known either to go kill each other or continue plotting how to kill everyone else.

Tony looked to Bruce and Bruce looked to Tony. Jarvis looked nowhere and Thor was seriously considering going after them. Hawkeye on the other hand had mysteriously disappeared.

"So.… we going to need a clean up crew on hand or what?"

Bruce shrugged.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see"

"Wait, so your telling me that you're going on holiday with not one, but two Norse gods? In the Alps no less?" Pepper did seem at all impressed, but heck Tony wasn't too happy about it either. Generally when he played intergalactic games with people, he kind of liked to be asked about it first. Apparently elves don't work that way.

"Well, yeah, but its not like we'll have trouble telling them apart. I mean, I like to think of it like this; say you were drowning, one of them would rush in and save you without even taking off his shoes and the other would video your thrashing and post it online for the world to see. Plus I'm pretty sure that one of them is a Johtun, whatever the heck that is" Tony was well aware that he was babbling and totally fine with that.

Pepper's eyes narrowed.

"Are you kidding me?" Her voice was low and dangerous.

"Trust me, Pep. It is not me you should be asking"


	11. Silence and sadness

_A steel collar held tightly on his throat, chafing the cracked, bloody skin beneath. His wrists were broken beneath the chains, he could feel the bones jutting out of his skin. He didn't care. He didn't care about the pain, he didn't care about the blood that trickled or the breath that was running out or the lashings of primitive torture tools forced upon his once capable body. His mouth hung open and blood dribbled down his chin. He considered damply whether he shoulder just stop breathing to stop himself from choking on his own vomit. He didn't have any dignity, or pride left, but he still could feel repulsed. He didn't want to go like that. So he held his breath, knowing that he didn't really need the oxygen anyway. _

_He wondered if he ought to be hungry, he couldn't remember the last time he ate. It could of been years ago for all he knew. It probably was. He stared, dulled, at the wall, staring at the splatters of blood that belonged to him. He didn't know whether he could blink anymore, after what they had done to his eyelids. He didn't know whether he could do anything anymore. His nails had been plucked from their beds, his fingers broken like his legs and wrists, his lungs were punctured and barely functioning, his mind… his mind was long gone. He wasn't even a person anymore, he was just another sack of broken bones and leaking blood. He was already dead. There was nothing left, blood still pumped through his bruised veins, but that didn't resemble life. He was just someone waiting to die. Nothing more. Nothing less._

_His mind was filled with their taunting laughs, their demands for something he couldn't understand. Their yelling, and yearning for something assaulted his ears, though he was still covered on silence. _

_He had nothing, he had been stripped of everything he had previously bothered believing. He had nothing. He was nothing. The only glinting light was that it had been this long. Years, it had been years and they had done so much. They had shredded every piece of skin he had, broken every bone, but he still hadn't yielded. In the beginning he had almost been tempted to do as they said, whatever that was, but now, now he could withhold forever. They could do all they wished and he would remain beasty. He would remain and he would rot. They were obviously done with him. They had done all the could. He didn't doubt the he would be left to soil in his own filth for the rest of eternity. God knows, he could probably die of starvation before anything else. He could of laughed bitterly. _

_Tap, tap, tap. _

_It sounded, a stick trailed along bars, but there were no bars. Only walls and a door. _

_Tap, tap, tap. _

_"Filth!" a voice cried, a voice he had grown so used to. He tensed. "We have something you desire" the voice was mocking though he was confused. They had already tried bargaining, promises of gold and wealth and women had already been spun. There was nothing else to bargain with. The silhouette in the door spoke words. Words he understood, but couldn't hear. Words that once made sense, but didn't anymore. A person? A person? Someone he liked? Someone he loved? He had no love. The man continued to speak of knives and things. Hurting and pain and bad stuff. He couldn't tell, he couldn't hear. _

_But then there was the clearest clarity. _

_Something worse than torture, something worse…_

Panic wriggled frantically through his veins forcing him up. He didn't know where he was. Why was it so dark? Why was in he in a bed?! Where was he? Goddammit! He stumbled confusedly into the darkness, his toes smashed into something, but he barely felt the pain. It was nothing. He hit his head on something and screamed, almost to himself. Fuck! He scrambled, pain soaring, until he collapsed.

All he knew… all he knew was that he had agreed and now he deserved death.

Bruce found Loki passed out on his kitchen floor, bleeding from his forehead, tear stained and blue. He stood frozen in the passageway after finding the door unlocked. His eyes were wide and in his plastic bag filled with pastries. Thor had told him that Loki wasn't too good at feeding himself and by "told" he really meant begged him to keep his friend alive.

He rushed towards the man, hesitating. Tentatively he touched Loki's shoulder, his skin was deathly cold, like ice only soft. As soon as his pink flesh touched the blue it began to recede. Like an ink stain his fleshy colour seeped into the blue and the slightly raised lines sunk back into the man's skin. Bruce watched as the blue faded off over his forehead and the cut sealed itself flawlessly, leaving only dried blood in it's place. He knew that Loki was adopted, but he didn't know he was that type of adopted. He remembered something about joinings, or Johtuns or something like that. He hadn't really been paying attention when Thor explained it to Tony.

He hesitated for another second before grabbing the man's shoulder, his shook it, not knowing what had happened. The fact that he was tear stained and bloodied worried him. He didn't know what had happened, if the operation had been compromised or if he had been attacked or if something worse had happened.

"Loki!" He hissed. For a few brief, tense moments he was unresponsive, but then he awoke with a great hiss of the heart. He woke up like a steam engine, for a second their was only a few grunts of, but then he was up, terrified and pressing himself against the cabinets of his kitchen. For a second Bruce was sure that he wasn't recognised, considering the wide eyed stare he was being given at least. Loki's scars lined his delicate skin, making him look all the more vulnerable. Then his shoulders slumped, and he let out a quiet, not quite relieved breath. For half a second he appeared flawless, full of holes, his mask sinking to the floor, leaving only the shatter remains of sanity long gone. He stood, that same mask reasserting itself on his face and, wafted away, his whole form sagging, yet he uttered not a word.

So this was one of those days. Bruce didn't mention it, he didn't question it. He knew about nightmares, he knew how if you asked, if you asked your weren't to be trusted. He didn't know what Loki's nightmare had been about, but he could guess. All he had was the cold, rock hard certainty curling in his stomach that this Loki, the good Loki, was a broken, broken man. A man who had been mistreated and tortured beyond anything anyone could bother to explain. A man who had been wiped clean of his home for something that wasn't his fault, a man who had had his soul ripped out and tossed into the abyss that all would call hell.

Thor and Iron man had gone ahead the day before, planing to fly to their destination rather than get transported there by Loki. Apparently Tony had a winter house somewhere in the French alps when he was having one of those weird weekends when he didn't want to party and instead just wanted to sit and stew in his own self pity. The others, namely Fury, Bruce, Clint and Natasha, Steve and Loki, planned to leave at noon to the exact whereabouts of the other two. It was a plan at least. Tony had informed them all that the house was stacked with food, beer and a surprising amount of hot tubs.

Bruce didn't quite know how Loki was planing on making them just pop from New York to the foot of the French alps, but he was just going to ask. Loki's magic was a little too much for him to think about. He could do quantum physics, but he couldn't do magic.

He listened in silence, leaning against a pillar in the kitchen his face in his hands, as Loki washed his face in the bathroom and attempted to get his shit together. The scientist could already tell that today was going to be a silent day. You don't get nightmares like that and just have a happy day. That's not how it works.

He sighed deeply and Loki came back in and they eat pastries together. Just two broken fools trying not to get killed… again. Loki made them both some tea, his with a lot of sugar, more than usual and they sat at the dining table. Bruce didn't ask and Loki didn't tell. There were not heart-to-hearts, there were no emotional speeches or offerings of counsel.

There was only silence and… sadness.

"So what is wrong with him?" Bruce and Steve stood around the edge of Tony Stark's cleared out living room while Loki draws chalk lines on the floor, lost in the crevasse of his own head. Bruce shook his head. He wasn't surprised that Steve had noticed, it wasn't hard, the black haired man wasn't even trying to hide it. His sadness was on display and Bruce doubted Loki gave two shits who showed up to gawk at his misery. At least Steve had the decency to lower his voice.

"Nightmares" Steve looked surprised, but then Steve didn't know what Loki had been through. All he had the pleasure of seeing in the man was a suppressed threat.

"Nightmares? That's it? I get nightmares and I don't look like someone just destroyed everyone I love most in the world" Steve frowned obviously thinking that something more had happened, he didn't realise how close he was to the truth. Bruce shook his head again.

"He… he's been through some stuff. Some stuff that we shouldn't get into. All I know is that I found him passed out on his kitchen floor, tear stained, bloodied and the same colour as blue roses. I'm sure the dreams he has puts yours and mine to shame" Bruce sighed, he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think what sort of evil the universe was capable of. "Compared to him, our subconsciouses are kind"


	12. The burning of names into wood

"Are we going to talk about this?" Tony leaned in as if he was spreading a rumour across the table, incidentally he also dipped his tie in his pie. Steve, who sat beside him, looked at it disapprovingly. Thor glanced up from his own pie, blue eyes blinking innocently.

"What is it you speak of, Friend Stark?"

Tony rolled his eyes and leant back with a deep sigh as if he was forced to deal with idiots and everyone he knew had the brains of a dung beetle. Steve's frown deepened.

"God, Thor, you have a guy drooling on your shoulder and you look like you could die happy. It doesn't take a freaking genius to figure out that maybe the great god of thunder has a teensy-tiny crush of a certain raven" he snorted at the end of his speech, crossing his arms and finally noticing that his tie had a whipped cream smile. It was true though. Loki was sleeping heavily on Thor's shoulder and Thor's arm was most definitely wrapped loosely around his waist. Thor, look joyous. Like the world had just settled back into peace.

Loki had clung to Thor's side like he was being protective ever since he had blinked into existence in a French field about five miles from the diner they sat in presently. As soon as they had seen each other, as soon as Thor saw Loki's eyes and Loki realised his mask was hanging from his ear and not covering his misery it seemed like everyone around them just disappeared. For a long peaceful moment they just stood together, holding each other and very distinctly, not being alone. Thor arms had swallowed Loki's fatigued form whole and Loki's fingers had clung to Thor's armour. They had shared words in a language that no one else seemed to know, but Loki had puffed out his cheeks at the end of the conversation, looking disgruntled, but pleased. The smaller man had stuck not-so-subtly to Thor's side for the rest of the day and Thor had been somewhat… protective towards him. Tony was pretty sure that he still didn't know about the scars or the torture, but he seemed to know something was up. He wasn't that dense. Bruce had said something about nightmares and kitchens but he hadn't really been paying attention. He had been busy making decisions. He had been making the executive decision that Thor and Loki weren't really brothers, like, they weren't really related so him playing match-maker was really fine. Really.

He hadn't previously known that people were capable of looking as cute as Thor and Loki did. He had thought that it was only kittens and children from a far distance. And so he had decided that it was, as of fifteen minutes before arriving at the diner, officially his job to put two socially awkward gods in enough awkward situations that they eventually confronted the obvious issue.

Thor spluttered confusedly and his cheeks grew a pleasant shade of rosy.

"W-what? No!" He huffed. "That's is not the case, Man of Iron. Loki and I are merely friends. We look after one another, nothing more" in his voice was a warning note, but Tony had gotten what he wanted. Nobody gave that much of an explanation if they didn't have something behind it. He smiled in a cunning, mischievous sort of way and shrugged as good-naturedly as he could manage.

"Sure, whatever. I don't by it, but, hey, whatever" his smile widened dangerously. "For now"

…

Three hours later eight people stood in front of a house too large for it's own good and had only crashed a grand total of five vehicles. Only two people not shivering in the snow, but that was only because one was a snow god, the other was rumoured not to be human, but demon with a man's disguise. Surprisingly enough Fury and Loki stood next to each other. Both of them with their arms crossed and frowns on their faces. It had pleasantly startled everyone else, excluding Thor, that they got on so… so civilly. Before the Man of Iron and Thor had left, when they were still preparing for the trip, Steve had walked in on them talking in the living room and asked very earnestly why Loki, god of mischief and mayhem and Nick-Fucking-Fury, were talking nicely about Midgardian politics and how well the New York repairs were going. That had surprised them all.

"This is… extravagant, even for you Anthony" The house was huge, at least five stories tall and covered with long swooping angles and gentle, but demanding architecture. It was beautiful and big and a grand display of Stark's wealth. It was snuggled sweetly into a small, narrow valley at the forking of two high mountains with some hard to pronounce French names only Bruce hard been bothered to learn. It was three hours drive from anywhere and built right onto the rock. Around it snow floated down from the ashen coloured sky and trees grew thick and tall, catching white powder in their thick leaves. It was brutal, this cold. Enough to freeze bones.

"Yes, I know, I'm amazing. Can we just go inside already? I'm freezing my testicals off here." The Man of Iron grumbled as he rubbed his arms, feeling the snow melting into his hair. He did not like this. He didn't like games he wasn't the grandmaster of, he didn't like the cold, he didn't even like being handed things. He was doing this for the sole reason that he didn't want to be confined to a mental asylum this early in his life.

"Tony?" Bruce who stood beside him, sounded a little more tired that one would of thought after only travelling in a car for three hours. Then again one had never traveled in a car for three hours with Tony Stark and his insufferably loud playlist. It was only after Loki was jolted from sleep at the beginning of a particularly passionate heavy metal song and threatened to duck tape him to the roof that Tony had turned down the music enough for Loki to settle into reading in the back seat. It helped that Thor was growling at him for waking the slighter man up.

"What?"

"We can't go in. You're the one with the keys. This is your house, remember?"

A look of surprise, but then sudden understanding came over the Man of Iron's face and five collective people gave sighs of disbelief and defeat. Then again, none of them were really that surprised.

The inside of the house was… lovely.

To say the least.

It had been achetectuired to suit the classical, but modernised nature of French manors and was filled with tiny, insignificant details that brought it into a soul. The first floor had only kitchens and living rooms and places for lounging. In the front of the house was a small window seat with pillows and a book case beside it where you could watch the snow floating down from the sky. It was from this point that Loki refused to move, seating himself on the cushions and firmly putting on the head phones he had stolen from Stark. Apparently he had a thing for indie music.

The second floor was lead to by a mostly sculptural staircase that was elegant and simply and born from perfect varnishing and soft carpet. On the second floor the guest rooms were beautiful and huge and almost obnoxious, but not quite. There were enough rooms for everyone to have one each as long as nobody hulked out or caused thunder storms in their bedrooms. Apparently Tony had requested a little old lady come in from the nearest village to make things look vaguely homely. On each of the bedroom doors was a name, burnt into the wood of the door. Just in random order. Anthony Stark, Nicholas Fury, Thor Odinson, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Loki Laufeyson, Clint Barton, and Steven Rogers. Underneath the name was their crest. The coat of arms that defined them in this game.

They had all gone down stairs after that, confused at why their names and crests were burnt into doors when nobody even knew where they were. When they mentioned it to Loki the raven haired man had simply explained that he had informed the elves with some use of intergalactic communication that they would be willingly participating in the game and that they, by some elvish law nobody other than Loki knew about, needed to provide the equipment that was necessary for a chance at winning the game. Which, if you didn't know, included curses on their bedroom door, the elvish wine by the door and an arrogantly large amount of paperwork that Bruce promised to help Loki with the next day.

That night they all tumbled slowly into bed. The first to go was not-that-surprisingly Steve who collapsed into his bed a little while after the pasta that Loki and, alarmingly, Natasha had made together. Clint had watched them very closely as they pottered around the inflated kitchen, but they had both had managed to ignore him. The next to go was Tony and Bruce. Though Tony had not done so all that voluntarily. He had just grumpily followed his lab partner because the other man had threatened to restrict science-ing boundaries.

At some point Loki wandered off, but did not necessarily go to sleep. One after one they all snuggled into their blankets. One after another they checked the front door to see if it was locked. Then the windows then the rest of the doors. Then they presumably feel asleep.

Finally it was only the infamous Nick Fury sitting, boots up on the dining room table, a finished book in his hands. He looked about, taking in the room and its stupid, but peaceful nature. His footsteps didn't make a sound as they glided over the hard floorboards. By the corner were he bags that they brought, but nobody actually could be bothered to unpack. Though he was only on the look out for one. The suitcase of Loki's. Covered in leather and buckles because, even he could admit, Loki was nothing if not elegant so naturally, so were his possessions. It stood perfectly neat beside Steve's scuffed duffle bag and Fury got down on one knee, soundlessly turning the suitcase onto it's back. Slowly and carefully and in the dark of the night he smoothly pulled zipper. As soon as the the last claw of the sipper was firmly undone fireworks burst into the air and Nick Fury burst back, nose crinkled, gun pointed and aimed already. Green flames flickered around a piece of parchment that hung, suspended by nothing, in the air. It just smelt like Loki, in a way that was entirely unnerving. Eye darting around wearily he crept forward a little and glared at the parchment, seeing curvy handwriting appearing there.

Dear Master Fury,

Congratulations, you have discovered my suitcase! Though,

unfortunately I can assure you that you will find nothing, but

scrolls, a pair of pants, five books and a pair of underwear.

Points for trying though.

Regards,

Loki.

Fury could practically feel Loki's smirk. He smiled a firm, grim smile and decided to go to bed.

Author's notes:

Haha, you thought I was dead, didn't you? I bet you did! But alas that is not the case. I am alive as ever, slow and stressed, but alive nonetheless. I love this chapter, we got some feel good moments in their. Totally winning. No tortured or nightmares or oh-my-god-loki-is-on-the-verge-of-a-mental-breakdown. It's all good, buh.

Much love,

Clementine


	13. The man in the snow

Around noon the next day Loki rolled off the roof of the building in his sleep and fell to the snow. From inside Bruce watched him fall, the deity clothed only in pyjama pants that looked a lot like they belonged to Thor. Bruce sipped his tea and raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. He stood calmly and wandered out where it was still snowing lightly. His feet sunk deep into the snow and he could see a prominent hole where Loki had fallen. He could see wet white mist puffing occasionally into the air. Bruce shuffled over the where he lay and peered into the whole, curiosity overwhelming him. Emerald eyes looked up at him, completely content.

"Good morning, Doctor" he said politely. He had his arms folded on his bare stomach, his pale skin matching the powder white snow. He looked at peace, surrounded by the cold. Even half naked, he looked like he was in his element.

Loki, by far, wasn't a bad looking guy. He had the face that resembled something Michele Angelo would of painted, or perhaps one of the Disney movie villains that everyone ends up secretly rooting for because of their ridiculous beauty and cleverness. He was pointed and flawless. He might of been a little on the small side, but he just made it slender. He could understand why Thor was totally infatuated with the man. The fact that he was usually pretty evil was easy to ignore with a face like his, and he was vaguely charming when he let himself sit down from whatever game he was playing.

"G'morning Loki" Bruce took another sip of his tea. Surprisingly, other than the agents who he figured were required to wake up early he was the only one up. Then again it wasn't _that_ surprising, considering how rough the night of. It began with Thor falling out of bed and causing everyone, excluding Tony, to wake up because they immediately thought that they were under attack which lead to a large amount of drawn guns and then lots of late night hot chocolate made by Barton who was completely certain of the healing properties concerning warm milk and chocolate powder. Then everyone needed to go to the bathroom all at the same time and then Fury decided that yelling was the only way to resolve the issue. Then Tony, who had woken up by this point, and Loki decided that this moment was perfect for conversing about deep space astronomy. They both ended up on the floor, lying on their backs after moving the coffee table, of one of the drawing rooms and watching one of Loki's illusions of some deep space realm with a supernova going off in a bright red, blue and green display of light. Eventually they had all ended up on drawing room floor staring up and the celling watching Loki's little space show. Even Fury had decided that maybe he could allow himself to fall asleep on the sofa, still clutching his weapon, with a natural display of colour behind his eyes.

Around five hours later, they all kind of woke up. Magically. The captain had woke up with his arms tightly wound around Tony's middle. Tony woke up with arms around his waist and his head resting on Loki's abdomen. Loki woke up with his head resting lightly on a broad shoulder, a head on his stomach and Thor's arm around his shoulders. Thor woke up holding a man he was certain he shouldn't of been with legs on his back like he was a foot stool. Bruce had watched it all. He had watched as the captain had gingerly picked up Tony who slept like a toddler in his arms. He watched at Loki sat up and rubbed his eyes, yawning, before wandering out. He had returned a few minutes later with a pillow and a big blanket with dinosaurs on it. He had gently lifted Thor's head and placed the pillow underneath the golden locks and wrapped the large man in the blanket, completely unaware the Thor was already awake. It was as if only Bruce could see the small pleased smile on the Asgardian's face. Loki had then stumbled, half asleep, up to the roof and immediately passed out. He had watched as Clint and Natasha gave each other "we don't speak of this" looks after finding themselves curled together at the feet of everyone else. Fury and Thor had remained in the drawing room, falling back to sleep after everyone had trudged off into their respective bedrooms.

"Is Thor awake yet?" His voice was surprisingly clear, considering he'd only just woken up.

"I'm sure once he'll wake up once he realises that you pitched yourself off the roof" Bruce offered his hand to the man in the snow. To be honest he didn't really think standing in the cold a very pleasant pass time. It might not of bothered Loki, but he was human and very, very freezing.

"So some time next year, I suppose?" Loki reached up and grasped Bruce's wrist, hauling himself up. He brushed himself off while the good doctor chuckled at his little joke at Thor's expense. Neither of them would mention it. Instead they both wandered into the house, both men's hair sprinkled with snow flakes, though it looked far more natural with Loki. The inside of the house was fairly cold, as the heaters had not been turned on for the morning. Surprisingly Tony was sitting at the dining table, hugging a cup of coffee to his chest like it was his first born child. His hair was flying in several different directions and his eyes were bleary with sleep. He was muttering to himself about something or other. His eyes darted to the pair who were just coming in through the door looking disheveled.

"Where the heck did you two go?" It was a fair question and Bruce shrugged at his accusing glare.

"Loki decided to launch himself off the roof so I went outside to make sure that he was alive" at this Loki looked slightly offended that Bruce would of thought that he would of been incapable of surviving such a meagre fall.

"Good morning, Anthony" Loki looked out from behind Bruce, eyes half open with feigned disinterest. Tony stared at him as if he was even more alien than he already was. Then he shook his head as if accepting that he lived with the strangest British person to walk the earth. Then he wondered where the fuck Loki had gotten his British accent in the first place.

Ah, fuck it.

Three hours later the other two emerged from their burrows and the day was finally set into motion. So much for responsible adults. They somehow managed to all convene in the very same drawing room they had the night before, though now tv was in order. Occasionally Natasha would snatch the remote from Clint as they flipped through channels of French tv shows that Loki was helpfully translating in floating white letters that hung out at the bottom of the screen. At least, they were assuming it was Loki. The man himself was lying sprawled between Thor and Tony on the sofa. He had his head leaning back on Thor's chest and the large man had returned the gesture with his arm tucked tightly around Loki's slender middle. Today's excuse was that he didn't want Loki to slide off the sofa. He voiced this several times and even Loki himself seemed a little disbelieving. Tony who was sprawled out on top of Loki for the most part, scribbled down the excuse in addition to the others he had been gathering in the notebook Steve had gotten him for his last birthday. He was constantly noting that Thor was nothing if not original. Never the same excuse to touch Loki twice.

Bruce and Steve seemed to of settled firmly on the two armchairs either side of the sofa. They were like a group of teenagers, sharing a house for the first time and thinking it was just like hanging out all the time really. At some point the tv clicked off and Loki's subtitles dissolved back onto the hair, though Loki himself never looked up from his book. Tony bit his lip.

"Hey, Lokes?" Loki glanced up at him, through that jet black hair.

"Well, I suppose that's me, isn't it?" His voice was a low, but not unpleasant growl and Tony smiled.

"Yup, now could you at least be more specific about this game, duel… thing? Or are we going to be left in the dark until your satisfied with our loss?"

Loki sighed at his dramatic words and pushed his glasses up to the top of his head. Thor evidently slumped at the removal of the glasses, in a way that everyone including Loki noticed. Tony almost rolled his eyes and Loki smirked.

"Very well" Loki's voice sounded as though he was dealing with children. Compared to him and Thor, perhaps they were. "The elvish game is usually used to resolve political matters so that all elections are completely unbiased. The game requires for all participants to have weapons. The rules have long been forgotten and in the end you either win or you don't. That's basically all I know" Loki placed his book, folded on his stomach, expecting questions.

"Great, our expert knows next to nothing. Isn't that just lovely" Clint said grumpily from the floor, still quite suspicious about the whole affair. Loki's sigh was audible.

"Look, children… the game is always changing. There are no certain rules. It can be a game of wit or brute strength depending on the players. If you die in the illusion, you will die in real life and you can still feel pain. Our consciousnesses will be transported to a playing field that has already been designed by an unbiased third party. If we win then they will be forced by intergalactic law to surrender all weapons and fall under the control of the nearest third party, in this case the elves. If they win they will be granted control over this planet. Then they will probably enslave your population and you'll all die" Loki's voice was flat and uncaring as if he was sarcastically explaining the weather to a group of toddlers.

"Fuck" Steve muttered, uncharacteristically striding into the field of profanity. He was staring ahead, his features slack and melancholy. Loki, returned to his book that Tony was pretty sure was in german and Thor went back to reading over his shoulder. Apparantly he had known about the fact that the planet was in jeparody the whole time.

"Say, Loki?" Tony's voice was grave and somewhat suspicious. Loki hummed in return, achknologing the question that was yet to come. "How come you didn't tell us about the whole armogedon, enslavery, doomed-if-we-don't-prevail thing in the first place?" His tone was impatient and dangerous. God knows, everyone except Thor was thinking to same. It was a little too risky that Loki would jet decide to switch sides at the last moment and/or had been planning to the whole time. For a moment Bruce was seized by the same series of thoughts running through his mind. Had they been betrayed? Were they in the process of being betrayed? Had Loki been working with the enemy this whole bloody time? But then a picture of Loki lying, broken on his kitchen floor. The look on his face when they ate together. How flat his voice when he told him of his five years in captivity. The things they had done to him, the mars it had left of his skin. The networks of scars over his back, the chemical burns that spread like butterfly wings from his eyes and down to his collarbones. Somehow Loki didn't seem to be the forgiving sort.

The feeling struck him in the gut, with suddenly realisation. He _trusted_ Loki. But then it was more than that. He _liked_ Loki.

Loki himself looked at Tony over his glasses.

"Well, I didn't want you to panic" he said mildly. "If I had told you that your planet was in danger your immediate instinct would be to "freak out", exert yourselves, get authorities involved which is strictly against the rules and then you would be disqualified and executed" From the floor Clint growled in a primitive sort of way and stormed off, finding himself to be enormously emotionally comprimised. Natasha wandered elegantly after him, nodding slightly to Loki as she went. Loki nodded soundlessly in return.

Bruce stood.

"Well, I believe you. Is there anything we can do to prepare for the game?" They were all well aware that the next day, at according to Loki and Stark's calculations, 12:34pm they would be ripped out from the insides of their heads and cast very cruelly into a tornemant that none of them agreed to. He was just wondering whether there was anyway to gain even a sliver of an upper hand. He watched Loki's face go thoughtful.

"It will probably be best to be incredibly intoxicated. The process can be quite painful, I have heard. It is why I requested for the elven ale. It is guaranteed to get even an Asgardian" he playfully hit Thor on the chest, who was grinning at the mention of the ale. "or even your own big, green alter ego drunk"

Bruce looked at him, seeing the mischievous glint in the man's eyes, making him feel suddenly threatened.

"Thanks… probably" Loki only gave him a sly smile as he back out of the room, as harmless as he knew the man was, it didn't help the dread curling in his stomach. This was certainly going to be an interesting trip, if nothing else.


End file.
